"Operation Sell Home" Has Begun

Our house goes on the market today, huge step of faith for us. I know I haven't been very good at updating my blog lately, but I do have a good excuse. Ready for this? I'm 7 weeks pregnant, have 2 very active boys, just turned 30, and am trying to get a house ready to sell. Good enough for you? But I am going to try and write at least every other day. It's so freeing for me. I find that the longer I go without blogging, the harder it is to find something to write about. There is just too much information. Even now, even with a clear topic, my mind is swarming with a variety of interesting topics to fill this space. Maybe I'll do two posts in one day to make up for lost time.

Remember my excuse (from two sentences ago)? Well there is something seriously wrong with that sentence. Who puts their house on the market when their pregnant and have two toddlers? Crazy people, that's who. The more I think about it the more I am convinced I should be institutionalized. But what's the alternative? Doing it when I have an infant and two toddlers. I believe we're picking the lesser of the two evils.

It's not the stress that gets to me. I've done stress lately and survived. It's the cleaning. If you're a mom, you get this. It's hard enough to keep your house from becoming a bottomless pit of clutter, much less creating a perpetual illusion of neat and tidy. The upside? Maybe I'll develop good habits of picking up after myself and the children. Instead of managing chaos, maybe I can learn to create a clutter free utopia. Who am I kidding? I still have two toddlers and a baby on the way. I will always be managing chaos, but I might just be able to turn it into organized chaos.

My friend and realtor (whom I highly recommend) Stephanie is coming over this morning to help me figure out what plants to put in the front to add to our curb appeal. Considering I manage to kill any plant I try to keep alive, I don't have a clue where to start. I'm glad keeping plants alive isn't a prerequisite for child bearing. Last night, Katy helped me paint a few walls. I love this concept: will work for food. I cook and people help me paint. It's fabulous, except when the two cans of the SAME color paint aren't a true match. There is nothing worse than to finish a project and feel so satisfied, only to find that you have to repaint an entire wall because the tints are a little off. I did not go to bed a happy camper. What if someone comes to see the house today? I guess I know how I'll be spending my evening.

Getting a house ready to sell is ridiculous. Isn't it funny how much time, energy and money you put into something you're getting rid of? We're finally completing our "list" and we're not even going to stick around to enjoy it (hopefully). I've been begging Neil for years to let me change out the brass ceiling fans in the living room and what used to be our bedroom? Now that we're selling the house, he jumps on board my bandwagon. Go figure.

Oh and the toys...so many toys. You want people to know your home is child friendly, but you can't just leave toys lying around for potential buyers to trip over. So you try to contain them, keep them organized and contained to two rooms. But you have two toddlers who love dragging their toys around to various rooms, hiding them in closets, throwing them down the stairs, dunking them in the dog's water bowl. Just when I think I have them all picked up, Owen has a bat, a ball, and small Diego figurine ready to play baseball. Before I know it, Diego is flying through the air, followed by the ball, and the bat. Of course I have Owen pick up his own messes as much as I can, but he's a boy with a very short attention span. It's actually amazing how quickly he can transition. He puts the bat into the drawer with one hand, and overturns the bucket-o-blocks with his other. It's a vicious cycle.

For now, I am managing the chaos. My plan is to get the kids ready to go to the gym, put them in the car, and then do a quick 30 second run through to get up all the clutter. Don't judge me, and I won't judge you. Let's just hope, for our sanity's sake, that the house sells quickly and for a fair price, so we can move on and move in to a new house in a new neighborhood in a better school district. Your prayers are appreciated.