Still no offers! *pout*

Today there was an open house and 9 couples came through (three with agents). Our realtor said that was a lot and two seemed ~very~ interested. We'll see. We also have two more people scheduled to come tomorrow morning then there is another open house in the afternoon. Please let someone love my house enough to buy it!

Today we bought Halloween costumes for the boys. Cars is going to be Jango Fett, Dex will be a Dementor and Jax will re-use this costume from a couple of years ago but we bought him a double-sided axe to carry around.

Tomorrow is the first day of R.E. classes for the boys for this year. Funny enough, the other Dex is in Dex's class. They moved a few miles away so that Dex no longer goes to the same elementary school as my Dex so they never did get to be in the same class.

I am hoping that Cars stays in his Sunday School class. I guess it will depend on who is teaching. Fortunately, it will no be in the same class as his preschool class because I think that is what really caused the problem last year (that and the mean Sunday school teacher!).

Ok, off to bed. It is late and I must be up early to get the house ready for someone to fall in love with it!

No offers yet!

On Wednesday, I was to take snack in for Cars' class. I totally and completely forgot. I did not even realize until I picked him up and there was a little note "You were supposed to bring in snack today". Aargh! Fortunately, they have a little stash of snacks so the kids had something to eat. Today, I took in some apple juice and cheez-its to replenish their stash.

I also nearly forgot to pick up Jax and Dex on time on Wednesday. School is dismissed 1.5 hours early every Wednesday. After I picked Cars up (and was feeling abashed for forgetting snack), I decided to head off to run some errands. I was sitting at the red light and saw a parade of school buses coming from the area of the middle school and I thought "Wow, must have been some big field trip". The light turned green and I drove off and then realized that it was Wednesday and early dismissal. I still had a few moments before they got out so I had plenty of time to get there, but I realized that if I had not noticed the school buses, I would be off shopping at Target when I was supposed to be picking them up. And, no one could get a hold of me because my stupid cell phone service sucks. Anyway, I did realize on time and the crisis was averted.

A lot of my problem stems from the fact that I had to take down my calendar for the "staging" to make the house less personal (and to keep nosy people out of my business). I live by my calendar. I have used the same kind for about about 5 years now. The squares are big so lots of room to write on it. And I colour-code the kids activities. And I am lost without it! :(

Ok, I am just waiting to see our listing on the MLS before I go to bed tonight. Tomorrow, Cars and I are going to do something fun for a couple of hours (well, after we return items to Fred Meyer and Home Depot) since he is clearly acting up from lack of attention. The other kids will have to wait to have some attention. This weekend...

I think I forgot to mention that the new house has a hot tub! It needs a new cover and the timer is broken (we have asked for the repairs or $$ in lieu). I hope it does not end up being a PITA.

House is almost market-ready. Carpet cleaning guy is coming tomorrow morning then we have the final "staging" and the sign will go up tomorrow afternoon. The house will be listed on the MLS on Tuesday. Our agent will have a broker open house Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday when the local paper arrives, our house will be one of the ones featured in the real estate broker's full-page colour ad on the back of the paper.

All of the work we have been doing has been hard on the kids because Stephen and I have been virtually ignoring them. I hope to take them to the club to go swimming on Wednesday afternoon.

I also have been ignoring paperwork from the school so I went through it tonight. Let's see, a guilt trip because I chose not to get a paper-less version of the PTSA newsletter ("over 579 students chose to read us online!). That means they are printing about 50 newsletters. I had to write 4 cheques (lunch acct, picture day for Jax and Dex and a field trip for Dex). The total came to almost $100! So that completely put me off for signing up for the fundraiser. We are doing a thing called "Pace" (Parents for Community Education) where you register your credit card and everytime you use it at a participating restaurant or retailer, you get a discount (mailed back to you via check). Anyway, it costs $25 to sign up and the school gets $10 of that $25. But, they will have to wait another couple of days after I disremember writing tonight's cheques.

For the first time in several days, I am actually excited about our move. We had some seemingly huge problem with this house that needs to be addressed but we had a good long talk with our real estate agent and the broker for whom she works and it seems like a workable solution. So, I was actually able to sleep last night and I no longer feel like the world is collapsing on us. Also, we had a much more reasonable estimate for the work (we have been quoted anything from $500-$15000!). Friggin riggin briggin!

Anyway, I have been thinking of the new house for much of today and I am excited to get in there and make it my own. I am most excited with the little room off the garage. Technically it is a utility room because the furnace and hot water tank are in there, but there is room for a desk and I picture it my craft area. Also, it is the pass-through to the garage so I am envisioning a little mud-room right by the door to the garage. No more shoes and coats and back packs at my front door! Hurray! I want to buy or build little lockers for the boys to hang their coats and back packs in with a little bin at the bottom for their shoes. Ah, dreaming.

I am also excited at the prospect of having a dining room again. I mean, technically we do have a dining room but the table is pushed to the side, there is another dining table with the legs cut down for the kids to play Lego and also a toy box in there. No more! The kids will be able to keep their toys in their rooms and in a small area in the family room. That's it! We have too many toys anyway...we never get rid of any when they get new ones for birthdays and Christmas. No more! Out with the old and in with the new!

Our new house also has a wood burning stove in the family room. For some reason I this is going to be so exciting! We'll be prepared if we ever had another huge wind storm and power outage then we'd keep toasty warm by the stove.

And we are on a cul-de-sac so the kids can play outside without worry of getting run down by the teens and other idiots who speed up and down our street. And the backyard is big so lots of room to play. No huge trees to fall on our house during a windstorm either, so that is good too.

Ok, my time for dreaming and calm is over. Back to the grind of getting the house ready for market.

We have had the worse luck with our house lately (this house, not the one we are buying). Yesterday, we realized that the pressure relief valve on the hot water heater was bad and water was leaking from the valve into the garage. Fortunately, we were able to turn the hot water off but that meant no hot water this morning for a shower (Stephen showered at work and I went to the club after I took Cars to school). We replaced the valve tonight and so far it looks like everything is working fine. ~whew~

Also, the ice dispenser on the fridge broke last night. Geez! I am *not* paying for a repair for it and I will not give anyone any $$ back on closing on this house for it so I told our realtor that we were taking it with us. She talked me down and said that we will just disclose that it is broken and will not be repaired.

Still packing and cleaning. I need to call a carpet cleaning company and a windows guy. Must do it tomorrow. Oh, and movers. And the insurance company. And...and...and...

I had my hair cut today and it is pretty short. I was a little distracted while she was cutting and she did say she was going to take it a little shorter in the back but I did not really pay attention. Anyway, it does look good, I think. I had to rush to swimming lessons after the cut so there was no time to style it nicely. We
will see how it looks tomorrow.

I am planning to hit the gym for the first time in months tomorrow. I need a stress releaser so off I go after Cars is dropped off at school. He is staying for lunch bunch which means I get an extra 45 minutes (for only $3.50!).

My kids keep waking up in the middle of the night for various reasons. Last night, Dex had a runny nose so I had to round up a box of kleenex for him to keep next to his bed. The night before, Cars said he had a night mare. Two nights before that, both Cars AND Dex had nightmares. First Dex who slept with Stephen and I for an hour then Cars awoke so I sent Dex to go sleep with Jax. Musical beds! Anyway, I am not sleeping well and it is definitely affecting my decision-maiing skills and my mood. And here it is 12:04am and I am still awake. WTF am I thinking?

I received a call today from the school saying that Jax was in the health room and that his tongue felt "funny" after he ate some Oreos. My mind started racing - Oreos?! I did not send him to school with Oreos. So I asked where he got them and I heard him say "I don't know". Cars and I jumped in the car with a box of Perfect Measure Benadryl. I arrived just as the secretary was about to open Jax's box of Benadryl. I squirted three tsp into his mouth and watched him. He looked fine but scared.

After a moment or two I was able to surmise from him that the teacher gave all of the kids Oreos because they had been good last week and had earned enough points for a party. She had asked me at curriculum night if Oreos were ok and I had said yes but I did not realize that the party was today. Anyway, he also is coming down with a cold, I think, so the "funny" tongue was actually a "funny" mouth and throat (sore!). I decided to take him home anyway because with that much Benadryl in him, there was no way he was going to be able to stay awake! I've sent a note to the teacher telling her that Jax will just eat from his safe snack box for the time being for any class celebrations.

We had the inspection on the house today and it was great. Of course it was though because the relocation company had already done one and we were given a copy of it. The only (major) problems are that the skylights are not screwed down (the roof was replaced this week and the roofers missed doing this), nail pops on the ceiling from the new roof (standard with roof replacements and roofers usually fix them) and there is a new garage door that is not attached to the garage door opener. The others are not major and are all things that we can deal with, including replacinig bathroom fans, dealing with an old furnace and a broken shower divertor.

I have rented a storage unit at the local storage place and so far I have put in a table, bench, desk, foot stool and 20 boxes (three trips there today). Next is another table, more boxes and I need to put two arm chairs in. The PEZ cabinet has been emptied and we are just going to move it into the garage and cover it with a sheet because I worry about breaking the glass in it if we have to move it to the storage place.

I am still decluttering and the next phase is deep cleaning. We hope to get the house on the market within a week! Ambitious!

Ok, so we have the house but we don't officially have the house or the purchase agreement. It is very confusing and more than a little stressful. So, the plan is to move forward now but each day that it is not signed, pushes the move date out for us which is good (gives us time to sell).

I had two friends come by and they helped me pack 9 boxes in a little over an hour! The problem is that I am running out of room in the garage.

Tonight was curriculum night at the school. We went a few minutes early to Jax's class and told the teacher that we'd like to put a hand out on each desk. She said sure. We handed it out and after the parents all came in the room she pointed it out and asked the parents to read it and gave us a couple of minutes to speak at the end of her presentation. Then she told the parents after Stephen asked that people consider the peanut allergy (even though we know it is inconvenient for them) that she discovered sunflower seed butter that is sold at Trader Joes (and other places) and she even had a jar to show the parents and let them taste/smell it if they wanted. I am so impressed with her! Yeah!

I quit.

I did it. I resigned from my crafts leader position at my mom's club. Well, I just sent off an email to the leader a few moments ago. The night before our first meeting. I definitely will go tomorrow to make sure everything is fine but I just cannot live through this move with this crafts thing hanging over me.

We had verbal agreement that we have the house today...but then they realized that the relocation company did not sign some form themselves so they will receive it tomorrow and sign and so the days start counting on Friday. We have 7 days to get an inspection and return to them with our requirements, 3 days to have a lawyer review it. In the meanwhile, I am still getting all the stuff out of my house. A stager came by today and told me all the furniture that I need to put away - 2 chairs in the living room, an antique desk in the living room, the kids' lego table and toy box, the kids' homework table in the family room, remove the leaf from my kitchen table, etc. Friday morning I will go and rent a storage unit and then haul things over there on the weekend. Well, after the inspection on Saturday.

Still no word about the house. Maddening.

Box count - 15 boxes packed to date.

Our neighbour's house sold today - less than a week on the market and with that crappy description. There's hope for our house yet! It also means we can increase the price on our house a tiny bit.

Jax's teacher said that they were trying to figure out the logistics of the lunch swap thing but for today Jax would eat at his desk and his table mates would sit there too while the rest of the class got to swap around. Um...how not fun for that table and are they going to blame Jax?! I told the teacher I was not comfortable with that. After today, the teachers scrapped the idea of the kids moving around the classrooms at lunch.

I am so upset about the craft for my mom's club on Thursday. I ordered 35 special paint pens to work on porcelain and they sent 11. Hardly enough to share amongst 55 moms. So I am totally freaking out and need to hurry and figure out what to do about the craft on Thursday. And yes, I should have ordered the materials earlier. That is the most maddening part about this. It is all.my.fault.

BTW, the company I ordered from has just about the most indifferent people working there. I called the person answering the phone says "Hang on, *heavy sigh*" rather than "Just a moment please". How rude! They are going to call me back tomorrow to arrange to cancel the rest of my order. :\

Jax told me tonight just before bed that his teacher was not going to be around at lunch tomorrow and his class was to eat in another classroom. The teacher told him that she had not quite yet figured out what to do with him though. Um, his health plan/504 plan only specifies that he eats at his desk in his classroom during lunch. I sent her an email (it was 9:30pm at this point though) so I am not sure when I will hear back from her. Am I going to have to go to school and take Jax out tomorrow? Aargh!!!

My oldest brother is so mean and sent me this article entitled "The War Over Going Gray". :\

No house talk except that we needed to sign more forms today. I will not be excited about this until they hand me the house keys.

Ok, so now you will have to hear boring moving stories for the next two months! Bear with me (or move along). :)

I packed 10 boxes today. I hope I won't need any of the stuff between now and then. Several of the boxes were board games and puzzles but I did also pack all of my craft supplies (with the exception of my beading supplies). No doubt the boys will come home with a "family project" to be completed and that will entail creating something with pipe cleaners, felt, construction paper, wood pieces, foam bits and glue - all of which I have packed up. Perhaps I was a bit too hasty?

Stephen has decided that we do need to repaint (rather than touch up) walls in the house. So I guess next weekend he will be painting. Fortunately, we still have gobs of wall paint left over (Benjamin Moore Bronzed beige) from when we had the house painted 5 years ago (or was it six?). It is really due for repainting anyway but it was just not something we were anticipating doing in the immediate future.

My neighbour's house is up for sale. The description for her house is so lame!

"Nicely maintained two story in award winning School district. Bright home with sunken living room, vaulted ceiling & skylight. 40 yr. roof, carpets & vinyls are 2yrs. new. Oak kitchen with center island & hardwoods, cozy family room with brick fireplace & a large private fully fenced back yard. Designer colors throughout. See it & you will love it. "

I don't think I would be interested in it if I read that! Anyway, I made our realtor promise that she will write something much more interesting. Anyway, they have had at least one family go through it so hopefully our house will generate interest when it goes on the market.

And if you are interested, photos of the house we are buying can be found here (there are about 13 pictures).

Of course this could not be an easy process.

There is a relocation company involved with this house sale and they have a rider attached to the offer. We asked to have an attorney review it. She called today and spoke to Stephen at length. We need clarification on a few items now. *sigh*

Tomorrow I start decluttering/packing things to go into storage. I hope to have our house on the market in 10 days.

We have a new house! Well, one more thing to await (approval from the seller's relocation company). And if that goes well it is ours!

Now, time to get this house in shape for moving. Yikes!!

The offer has been faxed. We should know within 22 hours if they have accepted our offer. ~fingers crossed~

Now, where is the bulldozer to clear out my house?

Ok, for the second time this year are looking at a new home. This one (like all homes we have ever looked at) is in our neighbourhood. We've gone further than the others so far in that we've talked to a mortgage broker and are considering putting in an offer very soon. Wish us luck!

My stomach is in knots. Very stressful! How will I ever get my home ready to sell?!

Facebook?

Do you Facebook? Ramona invited me to join a couple of months ago. I signed up but then worried about how I was going to add friends to my Facebook! I had an automatic friend (Ramona). That's 1! Then I added my friend Alicia (she was already on as Ramona's friend) so that was 2. Next, I sent a friend request to Alicia's sister (now I was up to 3 friends!). Whoo-hoo! I started searching around and found my oldest brother's two dd's (I now had *5* friends!). The next week, I found out that one of my high school teachers had an account on Facebook so I added him and quickly found three more former classmates through his profile. Look at me! I had friends on Facebook!

I kept checking though and all of my friends had way more friends than I did. Especially my nieces although it appeared that they had just about everyone person they had ever met listed as friends. Everyone in their high school it seemed, plus friends from the high school they used to attend. I still only had 9 friends. I was looking up everyone I could think of but was a little shy about asking them to be my friend. What if they said NO? Fortunately, I had two more friends to add - two of my brothers. I was up to 11.

About that time, I noticed that my nieces now had an application on their Facebook that listed their "top friends". I also noticed that I was not a "top friend". Hrmph!

My BIL's dd was on Facebook so I added her (12!). Then she posted some photos of she and her friends "pretending" to drink so I had Stephen check it out. He decided to ask her about them so he joined Facebook (13!). His niece denied the drinking and after he told his brother about it, she deleted Stephen and I as friends (back to 12).

I had another friend from high school and my best friend in college add me (14!). It was great to hear from them both. A friend of that high school friend added me because he recognized my name although he did not remember me (he probably just knew my dad's name) but hey, I'll take it (15!!). Then a guy I kind of remembered from high school (he was cute but apparently gay) added me after I joined my high school group on Facebook (16!).

Sixteen friends on Facebook! Ok, it was nowhere near the 248 that my niece, D, had, but I was getting there.

I have since added a few more friends (I'm up to 27!). I also have Robin as a friend. And another online friend, Kris. And just the other day a friend whom I had met when I had gone to community college (I once had ambitions to work in the hotel industry and entered a community college program before quitting and going back to grade 13 so I could go to university) added me as a friend. She and I had been inseparable for those 3 months I attended. We lost touch and I often wondered what had become of her. She has written me several long notes to update me on her life. Things are good with her for the most part and that is wonderful. Funny enough, she did recognize one of my other friends (neither of us knew that the other knew her - I've known this friend from high school and she used to work with her about 10 years ago).

Anyway, I am enjoying the little game of adding friends on Facebook. Facebook also have a lot of silly little apps (like being able to send a hatching egg or a growing plant or buying drinks for your Facebook friends). I play a Facebook version of scrabble with my brother and I poke some friends incessantly (not all because I don't want them to delete me!). My current favourite app is "More Cow Bell!" Check it out!

I hate when the weekend comes because Stephen decides that weekends are for taking care of business. This weekend it was mowing the lawn, reorganizing the garage, washing the kitchen floor, etc. The problem is that it makes me feel incredibly guilty (well, the kitchen floor thing). I do not know how to use the lawn mower. When I was growing up, our mower was electric so you plugged it in and turned it on. This one is gas and you have to add oil and then there is the whole starting it thing. I have asked Stephen several times to show me how to use it but he seems to think it is his job to mow so he won't show me. I guess if I *really* wanted to learn how to use it, I could. So, I let him mow on weekends.

The kitchen floor is all his thing. He does not go to church with us on Sunday so to appease his Catholic guilt, he cleans on Sunday mornings. Which is great the days when the kids and I are at church but we have been a little lax in going lately (well, all summer) so we are definitely in Stephen's way when he is cleaning and it irritates him.

The garage thing bugged me because it really did not need to be done and Jax wanted to go to the skate park and by the time all was said and done yesterday, it was too late to go. And today Stephen announced that we were going swimming so before I had gathered my gear - bathing suit, brush, comb, ponytail holder, hair clip, moisturizer, mascara (geez, am I high maintenance?) the kids were already waiting in the car and Stephen was tapping his foot at the front door. Literally, he was tapping his foot. Never mind that the tv was still on, the back door was wide open and every friggin light in the house needed to be turned off because apparently on bright summer days you need lights on everywhere!

Ok, I hate being rushed. Hate it! I am a huge planner and I always allow myself plenty of time to get ready and to get somewhere so that I am not rushed. Rushing and being late stress me out and I do not handle stress very well. Which is why I plan, give myself plenty of time... *deep breath* So the foot tapping pushed me over the edge and I told him to take them without me so off they went.

Why could he not have said "Let's leave for swimming in 20 minutes" or even 10 minutes would have given me time to get my shit together and then turn off the tv (which is just on one of the digital music channels but still on!), the lights, lock the back door, close the ground-floor windows, etc. Hell, why don't these things ever even occur to him? Oh, he nearly left without Cars' float belt too because I had not had time to fish it out before he was gone.

Can you tell I am not wearing my complaint-free world bracelet at the moment?

And since I am not wearing it I will also complain about my brother telling me today to tell me that he saw photos from our Toronto trip and that I really, really need to colour my hair because I am too young to have grey hair. Apparently I am not since I *have* grey hair. He said he will send me a gift certificate to have it done at Christmas. Grrrr! Hey! I wonder if he is going to dye his hair and that's why he thinks that hsi younger sister should should not yet be grey. I'll have to ask him.

Ok, off to do something productive with my time. And no more complaining. For today anyway.