avocado8

House Preparation Hulabaloo

It's been a while since I've written, but I have big news: We're moving to Philadelphia. I've known that it was a possibility for a while, but I didn't know for sure that it would really happen until a little over a week ago, and I didn't want to say anything until I knew for sure. There will probably be many more posts with photographs of things I'm throwing away, along with few words about why I kept them for so long, as I weed out closets, boxes, and garage space in preparation for the move.

Of course, before we can leave, we have to sell our house here. I've been an absolute madwoman for the past week, getting the house ready to show. That's why I haven't had time to blog; between trying to ship a product at work and running home directly afterwards to mulch the gardens, plant the flowers that had been sitting on the deck in their pots for so long, wash windows, vacuum floors, touch-up the trim, scrub the back patio, rearrange furniture, hang photos, and generally try to make it look like someone *could* live here but doesn't, I've been pretty exhausted. Some of the yard work was even done by flashlight, because I couldn't get home early enough to take advantage of daylight. I must've looked pretty ridiculous on a stepstool in the dark, a paintbrush in one hand and a Maglite in the other, touching up the trim over our front gate; and I must say that raking mulch one-handed is no easy feat. (Mom later suggested that I should have duct-taped the flashlight to the rake, which probably would have been a good idea.)

Al has been in Philadelphia for the week, which has been both a blessing and a curse—only one person in the house makes it easier to keep clean and neat, but it also means that I've had to do all the cleaning and repairs myself. I reassured our realtor several times that just because some work hadn't been completed on Monday or Tuesday didn't mean it wouldn't be done by Friday, when the broker tour was scheduled. I'm really glad I mapped out a list of tasks and scheduled them by priority (the furniture needed to be arranged, the house had to be cleaned, and new bedding had to be bought and installed by Monday night, for example, because photos were to be taken of the house on Tuesday morning; the trim painting could wait until Wednesday because the exterior photos were all taken from a distance; and the catbox could wait until Thursday), or I would have been completely overwhelmed from the start.

It all looks great now, though, and I now have a daily routine in place: Get up at 7am, vacuum house, dress and put on makeup, put away temporary bedding and replace with lovely new duvet, shams, backing pillows, and decorative pillow, wash bathroom sinks and mirrors, make sure toilet lids are down and that all wastebaskets are emptied, and make sure any dishes, appliances, or cords that I took out the night before are stowed away. It's kinda nice getting up at 7am instead of my usual 9am, actually; I get to see the morning sun streaming through the windows (and immediately spot any streaks that need a touch up with Windex), smell the earthiness of a garden freshly watered, and have some quiet time with Annie.

I was thinking that I'd get a break and be able to sleep in a bit today (it being Saturday), but last night a realtor came by at around 8pm to see the house, and she said she'd be bringing a client by this morning around 10am. The nice thing about a regular routine is that it's self-perpetuating; thus it was fairly easy to get up at 7am again this morning and run through the house preparation checklist. The fact that I didn't have to go in to work today left time for a little blogging, but now I'm about to go to the airport to retrieve Al, who's returning a day early from Philly (yay!).

We're going to spend the night at the hotel where we spent our wedding night, as a sort of pre-one-year-anniversary treat. We'd planned to spend our anniverary there, but since we'll have just moved by then, it's not practical. Lucky for us, the hotel is having a special this weekend that makes it a bargain to boot—and no messing up the lovely bedding here at the house! Heavenly Bed, here I come...