Haven't Sold the House Yet

So here's the latest on this house selling process. We went on the market on April 6. Nothing for the first two weeks, but I was still very excited to know my house was on the internet and there was a sign in our front yard. Going out was like a game because the house had to be "show ready". It also made for a wonderful homecoming as the place had never looked better. While gone to Maine we had the one showing, and then FIVE more showings the following week. On that Friday (May 1), Rappy (our realtor) called saying we had an OFFER!! And he mentioned that there might be another coming. Well, that sent me over the edge and I began telling everyone that we might be having two offers and we were smelling a bidding war!! Woohoo! Anybody with sense knows that the worst thing to do when anticipating something big is to count your chickens before they hatch.

There was no contact with the possible second offer person and the first real offer fell through after we went back and forth with two counter offers. In my heart I truly wasn't upset that it fell through and had actually prayed in the process that if the woman couldn't afford it, she wouldn't take it. Yes, I want a new house but not at the expense of someone's financial ruin.

Ok, that was two weeks ago now and there's been NO ACTIVITY. Here's the part I didn't want to see happen... me losing hope that anyone will ever show up again and get so frustrated every time I tidy the house before going somewhere. My human nature tells me to just forget about it (i.e. making everything look perfect) when I'm running late (usually always) or just feeling that it looks good enough. But then I remember asking the Lord to bless this time of selling our house and to use it for His glory (i.e. people recognizing that this process was all of His power as I am hopeless in keeping a tidy house). I want everytime I leave my garage to know that if the showing agency were to call, I can say, "Yes, I'd love for you to show my house in 30 minutes." One of these days when I do drive out of the garage, I WILL receive that call, and that WILL be the family who buys our house, and we WILL be on our way to buying our new home.

Guess it just boils down to me very much disliking anything which requires a lot of perseverance. I'm a microwave girl, cable internet user, drive-thru window orderer. But just to use another anonymous phrase, whatever does not kill us, makes us stronger. And further more, I want to grow closer to my Lord during this process and more like Him. Today was the last day of our BSF year. We've examined the life of Moses by studying verse by verse the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Moses was just a regular guy and yet because of his intimately, close relationship with God, he wasn't. Moses spoke regularly and audibly with God on a mountaintop, performed miracles before Pharaoh in Egypt, witnessed plagues and the Red Sea opening, led a million people on a 40-year "hike" through the desert, listened to them complain for those same 40 years, and then died peacefully just before the people entered the land God had promised them.

The frustration I might feel after chasing two children, keeping up with laundry and meals for one family, and tidying this house for a month's time is laughable in comparison. Moses is remembered with these words, "Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt — to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel" (Deuteronomy 34:10-12).

I pray to be like Moses who became like God by going to Him daily and seeking His power instead of his own.

New Blog Link In My Sidebar: Jackson World

Matthew's cousin Mollie and her husband Michael are expecting their first baby on July 13. It's a little boy who will be called J.B. (full name Joseph Brooks). Mollie and I have become close friends and that friendship is sure to grow as she becomes a mom in just a few months. We're excited for them. Philip is excited to hold J.B.! I'm looking forward to reading their blog and reminiscing about those first few weeks of parenthood. Thankfully, they are mostly a blur by this point. I say that and yet I wish I could remember just how tiny Philip and Braewyn were at that point and how there was no need for discipline at that time! A really sweet time.

Our "Baby" is 2-years-old!

On Saturday, Braewyn turned 2. We had a wonderful day together. The kids began the day with sprinkle doughnuts for breakfast, always a good start! For lunch we headed out to Spring Fling, our local downtown festival, and spent more money than we intended on food. However we had a great time together as a family and saw a cool dog frisbee show (these were world-record holding, frisbee-catching dogs!!). We headed home to let the kids nap and Mommy to bake Braewyn's cake before heading to Ruth Ann's house for the birthday girl's party (we had it there in the hopes of maybe having a house showing that night... no such luck.). Braewyn enjoyed spending the evening with her Mommy, Daddy, "Bubba" (Philip), grandparents, big cousin Michael, little cousin Holden and Aunt Andrea.

Here are the photos to recap the day. I was touched by how Philip really seemed to want to let Braewyn feel special on her birthday and wasn't jealous at all. He's getting quite mature for his age!

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Today was Braewyn's first day in the Bible Study Fellowship children's program. The "policy" states that a child can begin the class day following her 2nd birthday. Philip began the Thursday after his 2nd birthday, but his birthday being January 22, he participated for the last half of the class year (it runs along with the public school calendar). Braewyn attended today and next Thursday, but then we'll all start back on September 17. She could have skipped these two weeks, but I've honestly been waiting ALL year to enroll her in Bible study. I don't ever want to let a chance go by when I can help instill the truths of God's Word in her little heart. Her teacher said she did great and acted liked she'd been coming for months. There was a little mishap as the kids were dancing, Braewyn bumped into Philip, tripped and fell to the ground. Her mouth landed on a toy and she has a puffy, pink lip. Guess I'll wait until next week to get her 2-year-old picture taken! She's a tough little thing; I know she'll be excited to go back to BSF next week.

Photos from Maine

It's been just a week since we returned home from Maine. The trip feels like a dream now. Being in Maine is as different from South Carolina as a foreign country would be. Life is slow there, but maybe we're just going too fast here. I'm so thankful we were able to take this trip and for my children to explore a beautiful, faraway corner of God's beautiful world.

A side note... my Dad grew up in Massachusetts and I was actually born there. When his grandmother died, his parents moved to Tenants Harbor, ME to live in her house. They lived there for 20 years until moving into a nursing home a year or so ago. Now my cousin Jeff and his family live in their house. All growing up, we would visit Maine but just stay around my grandparents' house or walk to the harbor of Tenants Harbor. This time, we stayed at the Thomaston/Rockland Hampton Inn about 20 minutes away and saw lots of local "attractions" I never knew about. The boat you'll see "sails" (it doesn't have a sail?) to Monhegan Island several times a week. That is about 10 miles off the coast of Maine. We excitedly hitched a ride, free of charge thanks to Jeff who works for the boat company, which took an hour. It was one of the highlights of the trip. The others on the boat saw it as we would in taking the bus across town. Very interesting. I asked a woman if there was a school on the island (there was a sign reading, "No medical staff on island. Enter at your own risk."). She said there is a school for Kindergarten thru 8th grade. This year there are five students enrolled!

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Is third time the charm for us?

Tonight we had our third house showing. The second showing this past Saturday appears to have gone very well as our realtor called me around 1:00pm that day saying the people were definitely interested but just wanted to find out who owns the woods behind us in chance they could buy that too. That makes us interested to know if tonight's showing was them again or a new prospect. Either way, we have ANOTHER showing tomorrow night from 6:00-7:00pm. Perfect timing as we'll be at church anyway! Thanks, God. This afternoon I cleaned the house like a mad woman so it'll just need tidying tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

Back from Maine and House Showings

These last few weeks have been busy with keeping the house tidy as every time I leave the house I want it to be "show ready". It could take four months or just four weeks to sell our house, but I'm viewing this time as a season to be found faithful before the Lord in trusting His timing. The first week we were on the market I began to get a little frustrated that no one was calling to see it (now realizing that I was being overly ambitious and that this process is more often a slow one). Now that wait is over in that we had a showing last week. A woman looked at it and the realtor's comments afterwards were "Home shows great!" but that the woman worked some distrance from here and was looking for more square footage. It at least broke the ice from my thinking that "No one is ever coming to look at our house!" Now it's just six days later and we need to be gone from our house from 10am until noon as someone else is coming to see it today! Philip was invited to a birthday party at that exact time. God has good timing.

Secondly, we got packed and flew to Maine last Thursday, April 16, spent five wonderful days visiting family and sightseeing in a very beautiful corner of God's world and then flew back on Tuesday, April 21. I'll post all about it including photos and videos this week. The kids had a ball as Philip loved climbing on the big rocks which make up the Maine coastline and Braewyn loved having her Papa around and walking miles and miles on those little legs. Matthew, the kids, my Dad, and I very much enjoyed the trip.

We're on the market!

Our realtor Rappy came back on Monday. Before he even came in the house, he was putting the "For Sale" sign in the yard. Matthew and I were ecstatic! All the hard work of the last month was finally paying off. I still want to post all of my before and after (and then more after pictures after we completed the "Rappy list"), but here is the virtual tour from Rappy's website. He has an awesome wide-angle lens camera with cool stitch photo software. Therefore what was just still photographs become a panoramic tour of our house and yard. Very cool!!

What I Learned Today

A few weeks ago, Matthew and I were in Academy Sports and I came upon the most amazing items. Did you know you can buy a blood tracking light? Or a videocamera which you mount on your rifle to "capture the hunt and share it with friends!" I was amazed. No one in my family hunts so I've never really browsed the hunting section of a store before, but Matthew was looking for a new pocket knife and this stuff was right beside them.

Anyhow, that's the way I am, always curious about things, wondering how things work, etc. Yes, "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" was my favorite show as a child because of the videos of him going into the different factories. So after seeing the blood tracking light (somehow it intensifies red pigment so it sort of glows in the dark under this light) and wanting to run home right then to post about it, I thought I could probably post something nearly everyday of what I had learned that day. Either I'm really clueless or I just happen to stumble upon interesting things due to the curiousity (no comments please).

After all the build-up, here's today's new thing I learned...

Swim diapers cannot be substituted for normal diapers. We ran completely out of diapers for Braewyn today. I had planned to go to Sam's last night to buy a box, but we all went to Matthew's softball game last night and Sam's today. We didn't get to Sam's until 6:30pm so the real diapers were all used up and off we went to dinner with Braewyn in a swim diaper. We ate at a great new place called Wing Stop and I actually learned two things. Yes, her pants were soaking wet at the end of dinner due to the faulty swim diaper and she loves dipping carrots in ketchup. Braewyn ate only 2 or 3 bites of chicken, but she ate a lot of french fries and carrot sticks both dipped in ketchup!

I Take Back My Grumblings

(Read "Argh!" post below first if you haven't already.)

Yes, writing the previous post did let off some stream, but it wasn't an hour later when I was put back in my place. As dinner was cooking, I helped Philip put away some toys while I was sitting a few feet from our stereo speaker which was playing the radio. Suddenly I realized the song, "In Christ Alone" was playing. One line says, "I find my hope, I find my strength in Christ alone." It reminded me that my frustration was self-induced. I had become overwhelmed and begun to wallow in it instead of going to my Source of all guidance.

Not only do I know Jesus is always waiting, eager to provide the strength I need ("Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28), but we are currently learning in BSF how detestable complaining is to God. When we complain about anything (especially something involving a blessing from God), it is sin. We are saying, "God, You can't bring me through this situation. God, why did You let me get in this mess?"

The Israelites spent 38 years in the desert wandering around and surviving on manna because they had not believed that God could do all He said. They grumbled several times and received the punishment for it. This week's lesson from Numbers 21 recounts the Israelites saying they detested the manna, God's perfect provision for them. He then sent poisonous snakes among them, biting many of them and causing many to die.

Here I am living in a wonderful home and actually preparing to move into a new (at least to us) home with even more space which I know will be perfectly suited for us as God will direct our decision. In my sinfulness, I began to act just like those Israelites. Then again, aren't we all daily forgetful of God's blessings which fall new every morning? Thank you Jesus for daily forgiving me of my grumblings.

Argh!!!!!!

At this moment, I want to walk out of my front door and throw away the key! We're hoping to call our realtor and say, "Our house is ready to list on the market." But the bad thing is that the condition of this house is getting worse, not better. All the furniture is moved to its proper places, but in every room there are many items just laying around. I don't know what to do with it all. Maybe a good idea would be to take a large box and gather everything to take to the dump. Also with this huge mess everywhere, I feel I'm wasting my time gluing down unstuck wallpaper edges in the bathroom and touching up kitchen cabinets with a q-tip. If someone walked in now, they wouldn't even notice the wallpaper or cabinets.

Can you tell I didn't get a nap today? Yes, that's the real problem. We're staying up until midnight trying to get things done, I'm losing track of the dishes and laundry for spending time clearing out closets and staining the deck. I was going to lay down after getting home from lunch and getting the kids to bed. Braewyn fell asleep on the way from my parents' house to lunch which means she had had her power nap and wasn't really tired when I put her in her crib. After reading books to Philip, I smelled poop to put it bluntly coming from Braewyn's room. I should have entered right away, but did so after attending to a few other things. What I found was a dirty diaper on the floor, a girl rolling around in her crib and everything in it soiled!!! Girl and all contents out of the crib. Philip comes walking out of his room about that time too and I decided it was getting too late to try to resettle them.

Oh well, there goes my nap and any chance of getting the much needed energy boost needed to get anything really productive done today. Philip and I attended Bible study this morning so I guess that counts for something. We are no closer ready to selling this house. I suppose I should find something to feed my family for dinner.

Productive Day

Between last night and today, Matthew and I (with some help from Philip too!) spread 6 Bobcat scoops of mulch and planted 114 flowers around the yard. Yesterday, a man came and pressure washed the house, front/back porches, and driveway. I was completely amazed. It looks beautiful. Having your house pressure washed while you're inside is like being in a drive-thru car wash for a few hours. I loved it! The sound of spraying water is very soothing and the end result is awesome (the absence of nine years of mildew and spider webs!!).

I've already begun praying over our flowers for God to bless them with a long and prosperous life. They'll be prosperous if they live long enough for us to get this house on the market and then entice someone to buy it! Mulch, flowers and pressure washing are now checked off the "Rappy" list. We also bought a new front door wreath from Michael's while out buying flowers this morning. Another check. As for the dishes and laundry... don't ask. I'll just say the outside of my house is looking WAY better than the inside right now.

The "Rappy" List

You may have heard of the movie, "The Bucket List" about two elderly men who create a list of things they want to do before they kick the bucket. Well, I've not posted in a while because Matthew and I are constantly working on things from our "Rappy" list. We are in full swing getting the house ready to place it on the market. On Wednesday, March 3, our realtor Rappy Williams (hence the list) came to our house to give us our first once over. He's awesome and very experienced (20 years in the business!!) -- thanks, Kelly, for recommending him! Well, we followed him around our house inside and out for an hour, all the while me scribbling down his suggestions to do to the house. He also gave us a four page print-out which he gives to all potential home sellers, "Rappy's Checklist for Preparing Your House for Showings".

And here's the breakdown. I'll start with the good news.

Things Accomplished
-- Change Kitchen fluorescent lightbulbs
-- Replace kitchen brass knobs with nickel knobs
-- Spray paint all exterior light fixtures black
-- Change lightbulbs in garage, laundry room and master closet to brightest available
-- Move hall light fixtures to bedrooms, and replace with two-bulb fixtures
-- Attach molding to bathroom mirrors to cover flaking spots
-- Clean out area above washer/dryer
-- Put extra piece of vinyl under kitchen sink area
-- Spray oven cleaner in tubs to remove soap scum (THIS REALLY WORKS WELL!!)
-- Replace shower curtain in master bath
-- Separate kids from one bedroom; clear out office to become Philip's bedroom (pictures to come; their rooms are awesome now!)
-- Empty office closet to become Philip's closet
-- Spray water stain on ceiling with bleach
-- Rearrange master bedroom for more spacious look
-- Remove multi-sort laundry basket from master bath
-- Wash globes (the decorative glass pieces around lightbulbs) of ceiling fans in dishwasher (you'd be amazed at how good they come out looking; try it with yours!)
-- Seed entire yard with a rye/fescue mix
-- Remove screens from all front windows
-- Move two bushes from front yard to side yard

Things Still Needed
-- Replace carpet in master bed
-- Pressure wash house, driveway and porches (a man is coming tomorrow to do this)
-- New mulch in flowerbeds and around trees (being delivered tomorrow also)
-- Extra colorful plants in flowerbeds (Lowe's has 3/$1 this weekend, yeah!)
-- Remove paperbox
-- Change lightbulbs in bathrooms to white instead of clear (waiting until list time)
-- Clean out master closet and Braewyn's closet
-- Clean all blinds and windows
-- Clean kitchen appliances inside and out
-- Wipe all baseboards
-- Touch up kitchen and bathrooms cabinets
-- Clean out garage
-- Empty front closet of excess coats (why do Matthew and I NEED 8 coats each? crazy!)
-- Buy front door spring wreath
-- Find time to keep up with LAUNDRY and the DISHES in the meantime

Philip is a Child Model!

Matthew's brother Jonathan is the Director of a children's museum called Imagination Station. We visited the museum while spending Thanksgiving weekend with Jonathan and Lori. We actually got a really cool behind-the-scenes VIP tour and during the time there, Philip bravely held one of the snakes. We are so excited to announce that Jonathan chose a picture of Philip and the snake to be a part of the museum's promotional flier! If you are ever in the Wilson, NC area, be sure to stop by Imagination Station. You can tell the Director you know his sister-in-law!

Updates on the Chillin's

Philip had his 4-year-old check-up on Friday. He's known for several weeks that he was getting shots at this appointment, but Friday morning he didn't show any signs of hesitancy. He did get a little anxious once our pediatrician left after examining him and he knew the next ones through the door would be the nurses with the needles. I was actually tense all morning because I had not seen him get shots in two years and was dreading it for him. He received four shots but thankfully two nurses give two rounds of two shots at the same time. Needless to say he was crying. To quote Philip telling Grandma about the experience, "I wailed." To make the situation worse, Braewyn needed a second dose of Hepatitis A vaccine also. I chose for Philip to go first as I knew his "torture" would be worse, but seeing her brother so upset really got to Braewyn. She received the one quick stick and calmed down quicker than Philip did, but it broke my heart the way she cowered behind me while I was holding Philip's hands during his shots. The upside of the appointment is the news that we have a strong, growing, well-developed 4-year-old on our hands. Philip now weighs 33.3 lbs and is 39 1/2 inches tall. These measurements make him 25th percentile for weight and height. His pediatrician said he is petite but well porportioned.

Braewyn is still doing amazing in the potty department. It's crazy because aside from putting the Pooh Bear training potty in their bathroom, she's potty-trained herself! She actually said, "Potty" while waiting for the pediatrician to come in for their check-up. I told Dr. Shelly this and she said I could take Braewyn to the bathroom while she checked Philip's eyes and ears. Braewyn went peepee in the office bathroom! Saturday morning, Matthew and I took the kids to Krispy Kreme as a treat after their shots the morning before. Again Braewyn asked to go potty and there she pee'd and pooped! Hooray, Braewyn. We're leaving her in diapers until the move as I've always heard big changes can cause regressions. However, the way she wants to go potty at home alot, those big girl pull-ups would be very helpful as she could pull them up and down by herself. She's a silly little thing. Here's the list of Braewyn's potty policies:

- Must be naked from the waist down when pottying at home (this includes socks!)
- Tells Mommy to stand in the hallway (she pats a spot on the wall where she wants me to stand!)
- After pottying in the training potty, she carries the removable pot around the house for all present to congratulate her (it's hilarious hearing Philip's response when he's not in the mood, "I know you pee'd; go take it back to Mommy.")
- The best part is that she doesn't even know reward systems exist; she is completely satisfied with verbal praise alone! (we went through MANY chocolate chips with Philip and Braewyn is even more of a sweets lover than he was so this is a VERY good thing!)

I'm Still Here!

Sorry it's been a few weeks since posting. Matthew very sweetly gave me a new camera for Valentine's Day and I've loved taking pictures with it. The catch is that I've yet to sit down and read the manual so I don't know exactly how to upload the photos to the computer. Probably would be a simple process which I'll try to get to tomorrow. I have lots of great photos from the kids playing in the snow this morning as we awoke to around 5 inches of the white stuff! Also the kids' room and living room are both "show ready"! (Remember we're getting our house ready to sell?) The frustrating part is that each of these rooms currently look very un-ready to sell. Thankfully, each room in the house is making its way to ready with just straightening needed. Many items from around the house now reside in a rented storage unit and deep cleaning (hooray for the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser!) is going on on an almost daily basis. I'm calling a realtor tomorrow to make this whole process official!! Good night.

Philip's Rookie Year

Philip joined his first sports team this year. Actually a 3-year-old, he began practicing with the 4- to 6-year-old Upward Basketball team in December. He played in two games and then became "official" when he turned 4 on January 22. He played another game and then at the following practice (they had practice each Monday night) told his coach he was done for the season. We told him that he could do that as we felt like it had come to that moment of either stepping down or pushing him beyond what would be good for him.

Philip gave basketball a good try and I feel that if he wants to play next year then these weeks of practice and games will provide a good jumping off point. He did warm up to his coaches and sat still during the devotion time at practice. However, his age and skill level just proved to be too much of an obstacle. Thankfully, he never saw himself as below average which he wasn't (he's just a beginner!). Unfortunately his imagination got the best of him because as he lost interest in basketball, he would enter his superhero fantasy world and begin doing his Transformer moves... yes, this was on the basketball court during a game with people lining the walls of the gym. He's gets an A+ for not having stage fright! At practice, Philip was all excited about doing the running and stretching exercises but as for the dribbling and shooting drills, he thought he didn't need that part.

We had a ball watching our baby participate in his first team sport, collect iron-on stars for attending practice and good sportsmanship during games, and gain social skills as he made new friends. Even though I'm amazed at how big he is getting, Philip is really so young still and has a whole life ahead of him. It's going to be really great watching those God-given talents emerge and him find his passion in life.

One Room Down, Several To Go!

For those who missed my earlier post, we're hoping to list our house on the market in March. As "clutter" people, the entire house needed a good dose of TLC. A wise friend (who sold her own house a few months ago) suggested cleaning one room at a time. Great advice and now our kitchen is ready to show! It's amazing how cleaning off the counters and refrigerator door really inspires me to keep the sink free from dirty dishes.

Here's the before.


And here is the spic and span after.

Things are coming along...

We've had a good day. Philip and I are still enjoying our books and activities found in "Before Five in a Row". This week's selection is "Caps for Sale". This morning we read the book, I read Proverbs 6:10-11 to Philip which speaks of sleeping while one should be working brings poverty (in the book, the peddler takes a nap and monkeys steal all his caps), and then I showed Philip what 50 cents looked like in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters (in the book, the man is selling his caps for 50 cents each). It was a fun activity and helped Philip to get a first taste of counting by 5's and 10's and the worth of money. He's taking 50 cents to church tonight to give as his offering, and it will be two quarters, not 50 pennies!

Braewyn has been going pee on her little Pooh Bear potty sporadically for a few weeks. Every time I change her diaper these days, she says, "Potty?" before I can get the new diaper on meaning she wants to go try. Sometimes her diaper had been barely wet and she'll go more on her potty. This morning, Philip was in their bathroom but Braewyn started banging on the door and said "potty!" Philip said he was done (he's beginning to get modest around her which is good) and opened the door. She went in, I helped get her diaper off, and she peed and pooped in her potty!!!! We were all so excited. I had heard girls were easier to train but I never expected she would be doing this well two months before her second birthday. I am just keeping her in diapers for the time being with our plans to move in the next few months.

And that brings me to my last subject, our upcoming move!! We'll just be moving a town over (honestly on the other side of the highway because it's the line which divides one school district from another). My mom came over last Friday and helped me overhaul our kitchen. The countertops are bare save a spice rack, a wicker basket holding apples and a knife holder. We're trudging along little by little, tackling one room after another. Aside from dusting the ficus tree in the living room and arranging some pictures, that room is done. The kitchen just needs a few more cabinets wiped off and some things taken down from on top of the cabinets. The office, master bedroom, kids' room and closets still need to be tackled, but we're making progress. I can't wait to post my before and after pictures. The kitchen ones might be up tomorrow. We're calling a realtor in March and then begin house hunting. That part is what I can't wait for... actually walking through houses instead of continually looking in the real estate books and searching the MLS number on the internet to see photos of the inside of the houses!!! I'll keep you posted.

Philip's Comment of the Day

I could probably post something every day which Philip said that made me laugh. Today's is this. He actually said it last night but I didn't get a chance to post until now.

Me: Did you have fun in your new 4-year-old Preschool M&M (music & missions) class tonight? (He just moved up from the 3-year-old class.)

Philip: Yes, I met the two girls I have guarded in basketball. And I met a girl in a black shirt and a girl in a red shirt. I played superheroes with her. She didn't know we were playing superheroes, but she was just running away from the bad guys.

My Mission: Deep Clean and Declutter

I choose to accept this mission as my house will self-destruct if left to its own defenses. And the second main reason is that we hope to list it with a realtor in March. We've been planning on moving this spring for about a year. As spring is almost upon us, it's crunch time to get the place in order and actually begin the ball rolling of selling it, finding a new house, and moving into that one. I feel confident that it will sell as we have a corner lot, only house on the street with a double garage and are located somewhat close to downtown.

The hitch is getting our belongings either out or straightened up to a degree of someone else walking into our home and wanting to make it their own. I have already boxed up 2/3's of the kids' toys and moved those to the attic. We plan on doing some furniture rearrangement (maybe getting a storage unit to house an extra couch and bookcase) to make the rooms look more spacious, painting the office which never got painted in the 9 years we've been here and has lots of stray marks on the walls, deep clean (i.e. remove the grime) the kitchen cabinets, stove, microwave, refrigerator, doors, and lightswitch plates. Oh and lest I forget, keep up with the laundry, dishes, and general tidying (we have a bad problem of not putting things back where they belong).

Believe it or not, I am really excited about this process because I know it leads to one day Matthew and I going "house hunting"! I almost wish I could do that first to see in what shape other people's houses are in. I do want to leave our house "better than we found it", slightly impossible as it was brand new when we bought it. Actually now it has a lot of character and I'm praying someone comes along with the same character preferences. I've already taken "before" photos of each room and as I complete rooms, I'll post the "before" and "after" photos.