Getting Closer

I feel like we're finally able to see the light at the end of the tunnel in regards to getting our other house ready to go on the market. We hope to get it listed by the beginning of next week. Then we can finally start to concentrate on this place, doing the things which have been screaming for attention, but that we haven't had time to take care of.

I finished all the touch-up painting on the other house last weekend. Matt painted the deck about 45 minutes before a torrential downpour. I expected to find white paint splattered up on the house after church on Sunday, but all was well. The deck just needed to be swept off.

Cindy from church finished cleaning the inside of the house on Monday. The kids and I cleaned the mudroom floor on our hands and knees that afternoon. The handyman had laid the tiles we never finished laying and it made the other part of the floor look pretty dirty. We scrubbed and scrubbed and got it looking better. Cindy also stripped the original linoleum floor in the kitchen. The chemical in the stripper gave her a nasty headache, but after getting some fresh air she recovered nicely. She did an awesome job on the whole house. I could never have done it all on my own.

Ron from church came and waxed the kitchen floor last night. Three coats of wax on his hands and knees--what a guy! The floor looks terrific. I suppose it only looked slightly better the day it was installed somewhere back in the early 50's.

We met with the realtor last night and did a final walk through. She said the bathtubs that were used for watering cows in the pasture definitely had to go. Matt was disappointed. He thought they made the place look "rustic." We'll have a company that specializes in junk removal early next week take care of tubs and the other items that qualify as "junk" (not "rustic treasures").

Today after swimming lessons the kids and I did more clean up at the house. Matt will have three teenage boys help him on Saturday to get the rest of the stuff in the garage and finish the last of the outside clean up. It's supposed to hit 100 degrees here on Saturday, so I went to WalMart this morning and bought plenty of bottled waters and Gatorade for the work crew.

It became apparent to me this afternoon that my kids need a break and some good clean fun. Our friends Brian and Julie belong to a community pool, so we invited ourselves over tonight for an impromptu swimming party. The kids are really excited. It will be Joel's first time in the pool this year. I'm sure he'll have a ball. We'll try to get some pictures.