And So It Begins...

This weekend we began in earnest getting the house ready for the market.
Grampy and Grampa were so nice and watched the Three Amigos on Saturday so we could devote our full attention to interviewing realtors and the home stager. We got some good information - though I have to say it was overwhelming and I broke down and cried on more than one occasion.
After laying in bed until well after midnight discussing (since I am forbidden to worry) about how we're going to get all this stuff done and the house on the market (and hopefully sold) in a very short amount of time, it felt really good to take some steps in the right direction today.
The problem is that the more I do, the more I see there is to do. Which is good and terrible, I suppose, because now it's more nit-picky stuff.
But still. It's more stuff to do.
It's a good think I'm transitioning to per diem at my job because I don't think there is a way we could get all these things done if I was working my regular schedule.
Here's the sum of what we did today:

1-We cleaned out and culled the hall coat closet.

2- Took the rug with the shoes on it out of the hall.

3-Culled the closet in the brown room.

4- Packed up all the CDs and put them away to go to storage

5-Took down the CD case thing to go away

6-Threw out the VCR tapes and took the Canada Dry crates to go away to storage

7-Took one of the wood end tables to the basement

8-All the clothes and boxes are out of the brown room (many bags to go to the Salvation Army)

9-The ugly, threadbare rug is GONE. Thrown out the window (literally).

10-I took the vast majority of cookbooks out of the kitchen and packed them up.

11-The magnets are gone off the visible sides of the fridge

12-The majority of kitchen utensils are hidden away now.

Put all this stuff with errands, church and "Jesus Friendship Club" and it makes for a very full and very satisfying day. I can only hope we get more sleep than last night. =-)

Our friends from down the street were over for "Kids Friendship Club" on Thursday. We had a lot of fun painting and decorating old boxes and making boats. I know we will make new friends in Maryland, but that doesn't make it any easier to leave here. Especially now that I have found some kindred spirits. Caroline has found a kindred spirit as well in Michael. They're so cute - both of them are simply not of this world (thankfully, they seem to reside on the same planet). After watching them together, I think I'm becoming a believer in arranged marriages.







And now it's time for rest. G'night.

Following Advice...

I am following the advice of a very smart friend by sitting here and blogging.
Sitting is actually the key word. I haven't done very much of that today. I only had about 7000 steps, but I worked very hard for those steps. I hoed out Caroline's room. My plan is to go room by room and giving each area at least a day to de-clutter and get things in order. Then I can start the painting and all the other staging we need to sell this joint...
But lest I get too far ahead of myself.
We will be adding The Frederick News-Post to our side bar soon. Gotta keep up with the news...

Pops was nice enough to send some pictures that they took last week...
Sammy hanging out with a new friend at Uncle Matt's baseball game:
The kids got to go to the airshow with Nina and Pops. I think Caroline might have enjoyed the i-pad more than the airplanes...
And the sound might have been a bit overwhelming for Sam.
They said the Blue Angels were awesome, though.
The kids got to spend some time in Uncle Tom and Aunt Vicky's pool.
Nate wasn't in the cage for the whole week, don't worry.
It took Sam all week to decide to get in the pool. By Sunday he was enjoying it - as long as his face didn't get wet.

Here is one of the best pictures of Sam I have ever seen. Just act surprised if you see it on a Christmas card, okay?
Caroline really, really wants a dog. Mama and Dada really, really don't. Even after a whole week with dogs, Sam still screamed every time Fritzie came within five feet of him. Funny how he's petrified of the small, blind & deaf dachshund. So Caroline walking Ghillie in Rochester will have to suffice for now.
And now it's time for bed. There will always be work to do. Thank God I have wonderful friends that keep me reminded of my real priorities.

Grumpy.

I think that this July may go down as the worst month for blogging ever.
I can assure you that the reason is NOT what my usual reason for not blogging is. I have my hands full enough as it is. Shame on you for even THINKING that!!!
And it's not for lack of wanting to blog or trying to blog. The pace of life seems a bit more frenetic than usual. Even for here.
We got back from our vacation tonight. This is probably why I'm a bit grumpy. I just want to go to bed - but the cats are sooo happy to see us, Caroline won't sleep ("I don't like it at home. It's boring. Can I go live with Nina & Pops?"), I'm a bit anxious about work tomorrow and (as hard as I'm trying not to) I'm worried about my Grandfather who feel and broke his hip this past week.
My parents were super troopers (not to be confused with these), keeping Sam and Caroline while helping to manage Sugar Bear (who fell Monday) and graciously maintaining an open door policy for any family that needed/wanted a place to stay/eat while Sugar Bear was in the hospital/rehab.
As tired and grumpy as I may be, I really think it's them that deserve a vacation to recover from their vacation.
Jim, Nathanael and I did have a good time in Washington & Baltimore. It was so hot down there that 80 degrees felt downright chilly when we got back to Worcester tonight!
I hope to put up more pictures later, but I'm not sure when that will happen. I want to put together a scrap book from this past week for the kids. This is a major undertaking for someone as un-creative (really? Is this a word) as me. We'll see how it goes...
Here are some pictures...
Look at these sheisters...it's a wonder anything gets done around here!

Here's how we kept cool before leaving for vacation. And yes, this does prove that Caroline regularly does have "jazz hands", that Sam will NOT get wet in the sprinkler and that Nate is one chunky monkey!


We went to the Natural History Museum in DC JUST to see the Herkimer Diamond display. And yes, again, I grabbed a group of total strangers and game them a five minute dissertation on Herkimers. They tolerated me very nicely. I think I saw Jim like this, though. =-)


We also did a quick trip to the Air & Space as well. I was having fun with satellites until I saw this:

Seriously? Slighted by even the Smithsonian?!? No wonder we have a complex here in Worcester.

And because Nate was an "only child" for a few days, we were able to get some really, really cute pictures of him. Nina & Pops got some great shots of CJ and Sammy as well, but I'll post the ones of Nate tonight...




And that will be all...I'm toast.

From This Weekend...

Here are some pictures that were just too good not to post (courtesy of Caroline, Sam & Nate's Grampy and Grammy). I would love to blog more, but I'm fried. Just utterly overwhelmed. And very, very tired.
G'night.