I'm in Kansas!

I haven't been online much in the past few days, because we're visiting my family in Kansas.  It's been a pretty quiet visit.  The only one of my siblings that I've spent much time with is my sister Sara.  She has three daughters also, and our girls love to play together.  So we all went to the pool yesterday, and had a lot of fun.  Then I took Sara out for dinner, and on the way home we realized the sky was swirling ominously, so we grabbed her kiddos and headed back to our parents' house.  Turns out her oldest girl(same age as Princess) had "prayed to Jesus that there would be a tornado so we could have a sleepover at Grandma's house." Haha.  Little stinker.  There wasn't actually a tornado, but it definitely looked possible!  Since Sara and her family live in a trailer, they always go to Mom and Dad's when the weather is bad.  So now we're just keeping the kids busy until Sara comes back to get them.  I think we might be going to the zoo later.

And tomorrow we're getting back in the van and heading north...to North Dakota.  We'll be up there almost two weeks, and hopefully we'll be able to get the process of building our house started while we're there.  We have to go look at the land and decide where on it we want the house, and which way we want it to face, and what shape we want it to be.  There are a lot of options as far as the shape.  I've been looking online at one specific builder that is based in Minnesota, but has an office a few miles from where we'll be.  I'm hoping we can get a design we like, in a price range that we like.  Originally, Hubby had said to me "plan your dream home"...but when I showed him what I liked(which wasn't outrageous) he was aghast.  I'm thinking, either tell me to plan our dream home, or tell me to keep it economical.  They are pretty much mutually exclusive.  Oh well.  A smaller house should be easier to keep clean...in theory.

Picked a realtor.

We had some realtors come through our house yesterday to give us comparative market analyses.  First was a husband/wife team from Re/Max.  They were very polite and helpful.  They took detailed notes and listened to what I told them about the updates and improvements we've made.  I explained to them that we were in the middle of cleaning and organizing, and they were very understanding about the state of general disarray.  They were not impatient when my children interrupted repeatedly(though I was).  They told me about their company, and what we could expect if we hire them.  They showed me statistics that backed up what they were saying about the company and the process.  They named a very fair price for the listing; it was a bit less than what we paid for it, which I expected with the economy in the tank how it is(thanks a lot, uncle sam).  All in all, I really liked them, and thought they would do a great job getting our house sold.

Then another agent from Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate came through.  She had a loud, slightly-annoying voice, and one of the first things she said was that the carpet really needs to be cleaned. (which was already on my list)  She told me several times that I have my work cut out for me. (duh! that's why I've been literally working my butt off for the past weekandahalf.)  She didn't listen to what I said about the house, and hardly took any notes at all.  She gave my kids dirty looks when they interrupted.  She pointed out the same things that the other agents did, but the way she did it was just rude and unkind.  I think she was expecting to walk into an unoccupied, perfectly-staged house that would fit right in to...Better Homes and Gardens.  It seemed she was unaware that actual people live in houses, and actual children live in large houses.  She pointed out how long other houses in the neighborhood have been on the market, and the fact that several of them were in foreclosure...and then she named the listing price: the same price we had paid four years ago, before the economy crashed.  She just didn't seem to have a solid grasp on reality.

We decided to go with the team of agents, even though they suggested listing lower than the other.  Moving is stressful enough; I don't think I could deal with her condescension along with that.  So now I just need to finish organizing and getting ready!

TA-DA!

I have a clean kitchen!

I decided to work together with the girls instead of having them do it themselves.  It took us about 2 1/2 hours, but it's done!  It's so nice and clean.  And now I have a picture for the realtor, in case it's not still spic&span when they come tomorrow.

I need to go find some more energy somewhere so I can tackle the family room and dining room and entry next...

Busy busy busy

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days.  I'm still really busy.  The realtors are coming tomorrow, and I still have a lot of work to do before then.  So...since my previous post, I painted Angel's room, and she helped!  And I touched up the paint in Princess and Kitty's room, and in the library; I decided not to repaint those rooms.  I organized my yarn stash and did a little destashing.  I've almost finished organizing the big studio upstairs; still some school stuff and computer stuff and coloring stuff.... I tidied up the living room, and still need to do the attached dining room.  The kitchen is still a disaster, but I'm going to have the girls work on it while I work on the family room.  I haven't finished organizing all the junk I took out of the bedroom last week.  But I am determined that it will be ready for the realtors when they come tomorrow, and ready for house hunters before we leave for our vacation on Saturday.  So now I need to get off the computer and get back to work.

I'm planning on doing a state-of-the-schooling post later this week if I get time.  Otherwise, it'll have to wait until next week.

Exhausted...

I am worn out.  Beyond exhausted.  Seriously.

♥

I stayed up late, getting all kinds of stuff out of our bedroom; it's all in boxes, bins and baskets in the family room.  As soon as I find a little energy, I have to sort through all that.  Blah.  Anyway, I got it all out last night, so I could start painting early this morning.  The bedroom was the same dark green as the bathroom, and now it's the same light neutral beige as the bathroom. ☺ I'm glad these projects are done.  And that I got the pics while they look great.  Haha.  I'm not very good at keeping ahead of the messes; I need to work on that.

And now I need to go find some Advil, and soak in a hot salt bath for an hour or two...

Painting...

I'm organizing and painting and cleaning...all in preparation to move.  Hubby got a new job, near his family.  So we will be moving to North Dakota in a few months.  I'm not thrilled about it, to be honest.  But I will probably be more excited as it gets closer.

We are going on vacation in a week and a half, and Hubby wants to try to get the house on the market by then.  So I've got my work cut out for me.  He'll help with what he can, when he can...which means not much, and after work.  Oh, well.  I'm used to doing everything around the house.  So anyway, I started with the master bathroom, since it's a small room.  Got it organized and cleaned up, and painted.  It was a dark green before.  Now it's a light, almost flesh-toned beige.  It really brightened up the room a lot.  I took these pictures this morning, right after I finished painting.  Now that there's not as much light coming in the window, the color looks a little pinkish, but I don't really care.  We won't be here much longer anyway.  I just wanted it to be a better color for selling.

Now I'm sorting and organizing books.  We have a lot of books, some that we haven't read in years.  I'm planning on donating a bunch to the thrift shop.

Back to work!

Angel's at camp!

I dropped Angel off at church this morning, so she could go to camp.

She's been very excited about it for months, but she looked a little apprehensive when it was actually time to go get in the bus.  Her counselor posted on Facebook a little while ago, saying they made it to the camp, so now I can relax.  I hope she has a wonderful time, and doesn't miss us too much.  She's never been away from family for this much time before.  She and Princess spent a week with friends back when Kitty was born, but the two of them were together.  This time, she's alone.  She's a little shy, but at least she kind of knows some of the other kids from Sunday School. ☺

♥

I've finished the "A Girl's Best Friend" Scarf, and made a pair of mitts to match, since I had plenty of yarn leftover.  I'll post pics of that tomorrow; the mitts are still blocking right now.

More socks!

They're done! ☺ The "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" Socks are done!  Took me less than a week, too!

I had hoped to get a good pic of Kitty...you know, her whole self...but she decided to be difficult this morning.  She smiled menacingly, like she wanted to eat the camera.  She smiled a tiny bit, like she was bored and thought taking pictures was stupid.  She giggled, but not real giggles, so the smile just looked weird.  The only time she gave me a real smile, she covered it with her hands.  Finally, when she had a meltdown and threw a tantrum, I gave up.  The above will be the photo for the pattern.

I am glad, at least, that I didn't have to buy new shoes.  I knew I wanted her to wear black "Mary Janes", and her old "church shoes" from last winter were too small.  But I remembered that there are still a few decent shoes in the shoe box; a big plastic container into which we toss shoes that don't fit anyone and wait until they fit someone.  Angel checked for me and found these shoes.  They were scuffed; obviously they've been worn by two girls before, but fortunately Hubby had black shoe polish.  I got them all polished up, and they look almost good as new!

Anyway, they're done, and so is the pattern.  I love this colorway; it's so pretty.  I hope they're sending the same colorway in Swish for the scarf sample. ☺