On the Market

We finally got our house on the market. It's been a little over a month since we started working towards this goal. We probably would have hit it sooner if we hadn't had scheduling snafus with our contractors. But after weeks of packing and moving furniture and cleaning and watching our house slowly transform, we're finally ready to sell it.

The last push was particularly brutal. We got up early Saturday morning to buy the various things our stager told us to get (new towels, flowers, a welcome mat, etc). Then we had to get home to let the carpet installers in so they could finish the stairs. While they worked, Kevin and I cleaned the basement and he did some yard work. I tried to remember to take breaks while I cleaned the kitchen and found places for the things we had to hide.

Then I went shopping, because I've been in desperate need of a new bra for a little over a week now. By the time I got home, the heat had conspired drain the last of my energy. My plans to sweep and mop were thrown out the window in favor of recovering on the couch, especially since I had to stay up later than I'd intended. Kevin got a flat tire on the way to his baseball game, so I had to pick him up around 10.

The next morning we woke up as early as we could manage to finish getting the house ready. The cleaning seemed never-ending. It didn't help that I had to disappear at one point to get Kina to her grooming appointment, though it was necessary to have her out of the house one way or another.

Our realtor showed up a little before 11 and began shoving everything in cabinets. The blankets I'd carefully folded on the backs of the couches were hidden. Towels and soap were put away. Any trace of our pets had to be moved to the basement where they wouldn't be photographed. I never ended up finding the time to finish sweeping and mopping the main level.

The photographer came at 11, and we vacated while he took a bunch of pictures. It only took him 20 minutes or so to get everything done. Then we had to go deal with the flat tire of the night before.

When I finally got home, I basically collapsed on the bed.

But we managed to get everything done, or done enough. There's still some cleaning to be done. The sort of things that don't show up in pictures - toilets and showers. But at this point it's mostly a matter of maintaining the current state of the house while we cross our fingers for an offer.

It feels a bit like we've hit the eye of the hurricane. After weeks of working on the house in every spare moment, there's suddenly almost nothing to do. Hopefully that momentum we built up will carry me through making the bed and washing the dishes every day. But now there's almost nothing to do until we move to the new house in three weeks. I can only hope that we're under contract on the townhouse by then. It will certainly make life easier.

There's another whirlwind coming - one involving moving and unpacking. Then it will be all about outfitting a nursery and getting ready for the kid. I should probably look into signing up for a child birth class and other stuff like that. But for now I just want to enjoy the quiet. We haven't even made plans for the 4th of July, because all Kevin and I want to do this weekend is sit on the couch. And we certainly can't host anything at our place right now.

The heartening news is that I keep finding these pockets of quiet. Back in April I was sure that summer was going to be non-stop and that would turn into a nonstop life of childcare. But now I have a week or so of downtime. Hopefully this isn't the last rest I get before (or after) the kid comes.