Living out of your car... and other matters.

When you are selling your home, there is no room for clutter.  It's not like the typical clean up before someone comes over, it's much more.  These strangers are walking through my house, looking at the closets, checking out the drawers, eating the chips we leave out for them, and.... judging.  It's the critical eye of the buyer that makes me clean like a crazy woman.  And there have been MANY strangers walking through.  I lost track of how many showings we've had at 15.  At just two weeks in, the volume of showings has really surprised me.

The de-cluttering has been raised to a new level as I hesitate to stuff things into a closet for fear of it toppling down on these strangers, thus, giving them a concussion and forgetting how they were going to buy the house.

So, where does one stuff things if not the closet?

The answer: My car.

I am living out of my car for these couple of weeks.  Don't have a place to put that coat after I shut the door behind me to an immaculate house?  No problem, just put it in the car for now.  Can't throw that banana peel away in the kitchen trash can it has just been freshly bagged?  No problem, just put it in the car for now.

It's a tad embarrassing when Howie's preschool teacher approaches the car for drop-off and my passenger's seat is filled to the window with goodness-knows-what.  "Hi, we're moving," I explain.

And the weirdness doesn't stop there.  Here is a list of ways I have felt weird in the past week:

• My crock-pot of taco chicken had to be re-located to my neighbors house on Wednesday when FOUR showings stacked up after 11 am.  Thank you, Sandy, for smelling my dinner all day long! 
• I found myself staking out the house from the top of our street on Thursday afternoon as a relator's car sat in my driveway for over and hour.  The boys were listening to books on CD.  I was considering buying some binoculars.
• The boys got a "fun" PJ/DVD night when we had a showing from 7-8 pm.  Bath at 6 pm, PJ's by 6:30.  In the car, idling at the park with a movie running at 7 pm.  

As we walk through this process as a young family, I am humbled by the support and love we have felt from friends and neighbors.  It's not easy to sell a house with sweet little hands that like to make messes.  It's not easy to laugh at yourself in the midst of crazy.  It's not easy being creative with timing, cleaning and staging a house with little ones.  An encouraging comment and fresh perspectives seem to keep coming as soon as I feel discouraged.  Thanks to everyone who has listened to any rants that have spewed from my mouth and hugs to the people who are still my friends after all the insanity.  Love you guys.  

A Weekend Hike

We get out into nature this weekend with a local hike.  
It's good to be unplugged for a little bit.  

Mess After Mess

I loathe keeping my house immaculate while we have showing after showing.  

And this is why...

Here is picture proof of what my boys do to me.  

While I am cleaning up a mess in the adjoining room, they were working on this:

Honestly, I wept when I saw it.  

Little rascals.  

Football with Daddy

Funny Stuff Johnny Says

The other day, we pull into a parking lot and Johnny spots two average-looking people getting off a motorcycle.  They had big black helmets on.  He points and says, "Yook... bad guys."

That's my sheltered suburban boy... middle class 50-somes are "bad guys".  Pretty nice life.

Moving

Okay, I would not consider myself a deeply sentimental person.  I can part with objects in a closet for the sake of de-cluttering and moving on.  I don't hang on to every birthday card I've received in the past 30-some years.  I enjoy a hardy trip to Goodwill to part with items we don't need anymore.  After cleaning out a drawer, I like to pull it open and admire it a few times, just to remind myself that I am in charge of my stuff, it's not in charge of me.  

However... as we pack up to move, I am feeling these strange pangs of sadness over my stuff and space.  This is new to me and I didn't anticipate it.  I walk through rooms and think "Awww... this is where we brought Howie home from the hospital to spend his first night in the world after being born," or "This is the floor where Johnny learned to roll over as an infant," or "This is the deck where we hosted some great parties."  

As we box things up and move to a new place with more space and bigger closets... I pause to remember some of the important places in our house of 10 years.   I pause at the sight of Howie's little hands stamped on his bedroom walls with Aquaphor, the dent in the living room wall that Jake made with his doggie cage, the random holes around our yard where the boys have been secretly digging, the "pond" that my dear husband cleaned out over and over again because I liked it, the fence where I took countless Christmas pictures, and the growth marks on the wall in the kitchen.  

We love you 8110.  

You have been good to us.  

Thank you for 10 years of great living.  

Mr. Redlegs

Our dear friend, Nolan, had his 4th birthday.  A baseball party at the park.  

We did some running drills, played a little ball and hydrated with these cute bottles of water with the children's names on them.  

It was a perfect day with just the right amount of breeze.  

And then... Mr. Redlegs showed up.  

The look on Nolan's face was sheer delight.  His idol, standing before him.  

Happy Birthday Nolan.  

We love you buddy.

The things that come out of my mouth... (Part II)

Today I had to say to Johnny, "No Honey.  We don't lick trees."

Preschool Engineers

I got an odd shaped box in the mail from fabric.com.  

Without hesitation, Howie was asking about it, 

"Can I have that box when you are done with it Mommy?  I want to make a tunnel for my cars."  

Of course, I cannot let my fabric sit in a box for more than 5 minutes after arrival, 

so Howie inherited the box right away.  

He and Johnny found a sufficient car supply in the house and went to town.  

They tried all sorts of heights by putting one end of the box up on the couch, the steps, the blocks (the engineer part).  And then they took turns rolling the cars down, while the other stood at the end and squealed with delight when the car came shooting out (the preschool part).  

After observing this, one cannot argue that a child's play is their work.  Don't you agree?

Oh Beautiful Day!

It was the first day of preschool today!  

Howie was a bundle of different emotions as he faced the new day.  Scared, excited, but mostly happy.  This is his first lunch experience away from the home which is a brave, new world for this Momma of the allergy kid.  Letting go of his hand this morning was a little more heart lurching than usual.  

But that's my job, right?!  

Preparing him for the brave, new world... then letting go of his hand.  

Gulp.

I miss him.  And I'm not the only one who misses him.  

Johnny has whimpered, "Howie?" about 20 times throughout the morning.  

However... upon returning home sans Howie, Johnny quickly discovered that he could touch and play with the forbidden things such as Howie's kitty cat or the entire block bin.  

But alas, "things" are much less important than our dear Howie.  

We can't wait to go pick him up.  

Johnny's Words

Johnny has a rapidly expanding vocabulary at the two year mark.  He is trying with all his might to communicate and be understood.  Here are a few of the bigger words he knows...

My Birthday Picture

Howie drew this picture for me today in honor of my birthday. It's me... As a princess.