The Pressure Mounts

Can I just say that moving and trying to sell a house is a horrible, awful, stressful process that I really hate?  I am thankful that I have a house to sell and that we were blessed enough to find another house on acreage and buy it - I really am - but the resulting chaos, frustration, anticipation and disappointment are entirely overwhelming!

I no longer know what day it is because they all look the same - pack something, paint something, clean something, repeat ... 1000 times!  Actually, I am not sure 1000 times would even get it done.  Still, I plod on.

We had our first showing of the house this weekend.  I was so proud of the progress we had made and how great the house looked ... until I spoke with my Realtor and got the feedback.  Apparently we are overpriced, the office still has too much stuff in it and the condition of the carpet upstairs is worse than the other two homes for sale in the neighborhood.  We need people like us to look at the house - those who can imagine what could be and realize that new carpet is no biggie.  Did I mention that I hate this process? 

On a more positive note, we got Zoe's bed moved into her new room, which gives me renewed hope that we are indeed making progress.  However, there have been setbacks too.  I used painter's tape to mask off the baseboards and such in our bedroom before I painted, yet I still have paint all over the woodwork.  Despite scoring the tape before I pulled it, I still had spots where it pulled the paint off the walls, so now I get to go in with a tiny detail brush and fix the paint job, plus have to sand the baseboards and re-stain them.  Like I didn't have enough to do!

Thanks to my wonderful mother,  I do have clean cupboards and quite a bit of Contact Paper lining them.  She spent a day scrubbing, measuring and cutting for me.  While she did that, my dad pulled up carpet, padding, tack strips and staples in order to prepare the floors for the new flooring.  In the process, he found $9.25 in change under the baseboards, which will provide us with over 9 square feet of new flooring!  (Every little bit helps.)

One thing that we don't have to purchase are smoke detectors.  I think I have counted 12 in the house.  Should I be worried about the wood burning stove?  So far it has been nice to be able to pick up wood from the yard and use it to keep the house warm instead of the electric, but it does scare me a little.  (Yes, apparently I am such a city girl.)  Besides my concerns over having a fire going in my house on a regular basis, the aesthetics of the wood burning stove have me looking for other options.  Can we get one that actually fits in the fireplace and lets me see the fire, while still heating the whole house?  I think we can, but I need an expert on this.

The wood burning stove is not exactly an attractive addition to the room, though admittedly functional.  I want a pretty fireplace!

The kids are very anxious to be living at the new place.   They love being outside there.  I even find myself outside a lot, despite the cold.  There is just something about being on the land that is awesome.  (Remind me of that when the grass starts to grow and the work really begins!)  I was hoping to be living there by February 1, but am now convinced that the only way that is possible is if I revise my goal to February 1, 2012!  Did I mention that I hate this process? : )

Despite all the stress, frustration and delays, I am so thankful that we get to do this.  It will all be worth it in the end.  Stay tuned...