The Siege Continues

So, maybe it is a conspiracy by all the local realtors to keep me from packing, but we have had MORE showings this week than any other so far!  There have been weeks in the past that we have had maybe one (usually on the weekend), but this week we have had 4 and another scheduled for tomorrow! So, no packing happened today. Maybe I'll tackle some tonight, but maybe not because our showing tomorrow is in the morning. [sigh] At least the house is already clean and the kids are headed to bed so it will still be clean in the morning!

TOO MANY SHOWINGS!?

Okay, this is probably not something to complain about (especially in this housing market), but these showings are wearing me out! In the 6 or so weeks that our house has been on the market, we have had 15+ showings.  Up until now, I have just been humored with it and not really stressed. I think the difference is that I have now moved into a packing mindset. Our ocean shipment leaves next week, so I have been packing like mad. Yesterday, Josh was feeling under the weather, so we were staying close to home. As Josh and Tori played, I packed. I had boxes and things everywhere and then got a call to schedule a showing that night. No big deal - I just moved all the boxes back into the garage and cleaned up the house. This morning I got all the packing things back out and packed a few more boxes and (you guessed it) I got another call to show the house this evening. In the words of Charlie Brown, "GOOD GRIEF!" Though I am still not stressed, I think more than anything I am annoyed.  I don't want to be cleaning right now.  I want to pack. Just as an aside.... did I mention that Andy is out of town all week? Oh well, such is life. :-) I am now off to finish one last box (maybe two) before I move all the packing supplies BACK into the garage!

Birthday suitcases

Becca got a rolling backpack/carry-on suitcase for her birthday from Grandma and Grandpa.  It is way cool and she is SO excited to have her own suitcase.  When she got it, Josh looked at it longingly and we knew that a suitcase was in his future as well!  While we were out shopping for luggage this weekend, Josh found this little carry-on in Colts blue.  Amazingly enough, it was also on clearance!  We knew that Josh had found his birthday suitcase.  He has taken it everywhere with him and is telling everyone about it.  One of the things he was most excited about was that his suitcase had "seatbelts" for his animals so they could be safe. On the way home from Cincinnati, he even fell asleep holding on to it!

Check out the "seatbelts"!

He wouldn't let it go, even in sleep!

Saying Goodbye

I feel like we are at the beginning of the end.  Andy's last day at his former job was Friday.  We took our last trip to Cincinnati before we leave.  We also had the first of our going away parties (in Cincinnati).  The Dumfords and Kershners gave us a great send off and we were able to connect with people - some of which we have not seen in years!  We then hung out with these dear friends on Saturday night and stayed up way too late, because we weren't ready to say goodbye. [Granted maybe we are just getting old that 12:30 is late!] Aren't goodbyes so hard?  I didn't think this was going to be as hard as it was.  I mean, we don't even live in Cincinnati anymore and don't see these friends on a daily, weekly (or even monthly) basis. But Becca and I both were in tears as we drove out of Cincinnati. I guess this will always be a bit of a home for us as we have so many people we care about here. As we were driving and Becca and I were talking about the things and people we are going to miss, my dear girl turned to me and to ask what I was going to miss most.  I shared with her that I was going to miss our friends, family and even our house. Becca then turned to me and said, "But Mommy, we can talk with these people on Skype and that will be almost like seeing them!"  How is it that my little girl (who had been crying at the start of our talk) was trying to cheer me up? I am amazed at her perspective on things so many times!

4 weeks and counting. . .

That's right! We only have 4 WEEKS until we leave.  We fly out on the 27th of May.  It is approaching so fast....  As Andy said the other day, all we have left to do is sell things and pack.  No big deal. ;-) Right now we are packing up for our ocean shipment.  Yes, all of our things will be on a slow boat to China. Our garage has become packing central (especially since we are trying to keep our house in order). Below are photos of Grand Central Packing Zone and the kiddos using "chopsticks-in-training."  We have started eating Chinese food more often and the kids are using chopsticks that we got from bd's Mongolian BBQ.

Andy packing all of our food stuff. Yes, he is holding a mega-container of baking powder!

It took several tries to get this photo - she kept dropping the chicken.  Each time she would say, "Oh, drat, double drat!"

If you look closely, you can see that Josh is in the process of losing the chicken!

Becca has chopstick skills.  She is holding a pea and can do this with regular chopsticks.

Meeting Jeff on Saturday

We are HUGE Colts fans!  Andy discovered that Jeff Saturday, the center for the Indianapolis Colts, was going to be at the Meijer near us today.  Becca wondered if his name was Jeff Saturday because he signed autographs on Saturday. Funny girl! Andy went with Becca and Josh in their Colts apparel. They were excited to go, but wouldn't talk once they met him. Becca even warned us that she might be shy when she got there. They were excited to get an autographed picture of him (once the season starts, I am sure they will watch for him). What fun Daddy time!

Under Siege

As you know our house is under siege (I mean, FOR SALE).  We have had a lot of traffic through our house, which basically means that a lot of people have looked but no offers.  Through all these showings and an upcoming open house, we are feeling like there is a constant battle against dirt and clutter.  I have developed a few strategies for getting the house looking good in a short amount of time.  But, I must confess, that there are some crazy things that I have done to get it ready in a hurry.  Here are the best of them:

• Putting a clean load of laundry BACK in the dryer so I don't have to fold it.
• Putting dirty dishes in the stove.
• When we got back from Spring break, I had not fully unpacked when we had a showing, so I took the suitcases with me in the van when we left. :-)

Okay, your turn to 'fess up!  Anybody else do anything crazy when getting ready?