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Monday, March 03, 2008

Some Randomness


1. Our house is on the market, the sign is in the yard, and we are not near ready for showings. We worked hard all weekend (hence my silence here on the blog), yet I still can't seem to get the house "show ready." It is a frustrating process. I don't remember it being this hard last time! I will be sure to post when we have our first showing. I am excited and trusting God for a quick sale!

2. In order to reveal our complete wishy-washyness, we are having a guy come today to price an addition. This is something we keep coming back to. Yesterday after we drove out to look at a neighborhood and another house that looked promising, and resolved that these were not a fit either, we drove home discussing an addition. For about the millionth time. It will all depend on how much an addition will cost. The thing is, we love our location, we love our neighborhood and swim club, and our neighbors. So why leave that? If we can do what we think we can and spend what we think it will cost, we will spend less than the new houses we are currently looking at and have the same square footage as those houses. Decisions, decisions.

3. Church yesterday was awesome. I love our church. I know I say that a lot, but I just think it bears repeating because it is nice to feel that way about a church. I know so many people who are disgruntled in their churches, and it is just good to contradict that-- to know that it is possible to find a church you love, to go to church with people you love, and to get completely and totally filled up each Sunday at the same time. Not so you can get all puffed up and fat and happy, but so you can go out into your community and give it away. If you are looking for a church and live in the Charlotte area, check out Elevation. It is so fun to see so many familiar faces each week as more and more people we know are checking it out. If you want to check out pastor's sermon from yesterday, go to his blog and click on the little link in the top right hand corner to take you right to it. It should be up by Tuesday. Yesterday he preached to the "older generation" and it was so good and inspiring to know that we might be at the halftime mark of the game, but as he said, many games are won in the second half.

4. Last night we went to Group Link at church and signed up for a small group. I am very excited about this and it is a big step for us to commit to. We have always been hesitant with our kids and our busy lifestyle to commit to a weekly meeting. Yet we know that small groups are key to our church's structure and we are missing out on a big part of it by not being involved in one. Our friends Lori and Matt are leading, which definitely adds to my comfort zone. I think this group is going to be an awesome thing for our family and for us as a couple. Every Wednesday night we will get together for discussion and fellowship. We need that. Who doesn't?

5. Our dishwasher broke this weekend. So we have been hand-washing dishes all weekend, which is part of the reason I have not been able to get much done. I have literally spent hours standing at the sink washing and drying dishes. There was lots of other things I could have done with that time and I was realizing what a gift that simple piece of equipment is in my life. Like the old Chicago song goes, "You don't know what you got until it's gone." Thankfully, the repairman is coming today. I am praying he will be able to repair it in short order! Incidentally, it was warm enough this weekend (gotta love living in the south!) to turn on our car air conditioners... and guess what? Neither of them are working-- not in Curt's car or mine. Isn't that fun? I just love spending money to fix broken things!

6. And speaking of broken things, remember our pretty new carpet? Well, this weekend while I was washing a stack of dishes, the baby got away from me and snuck upstairs where her sister's purse held some very exciting eye shadow. The new carpet made the perfect palette for her artistic expression with said eye shadow. It is a miracle that Curt and I did not just sit down and have ourselves a good cry when we saw it. The good news is, Curt was able to get it out with some hot water, OxyClean and good old-fashioned elbow grease. You can bet we had a serious conversation with all the children about taking care of this new carpet. That was not a fun moment at our house!

7. That's all the randomness I have on my brain for now. I am sure more will occur to me that I will post here on the blog. Thanks to all of you who said you would pray for our house sale. We need those prayers! I know you all will be glad when this chapter of my life is over so you won't have to hear about it all the time. I will be, too!
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8 comments:

Jenni said...

Oh pooh on the "show ready", LOL! Just live in the house...studies have showed that a lived in-house sells much more quickly than a sterile, museum-like environment. The right folks will come at just the right time.

#4 is hard for us too, for the same reasons. I hope your small group is a huge blessing to all of you!

Laura said...

Oh Marybeth. Life can sometimes be so ridiculous! Hang in there. I will definitely pray for wisdom! And that the dishwasher is fixed soon! When my kids were little, ours went out and we didn't have the $ to replace it. It became a glorified drying rack.

Alyce said...

I like your idea of the addition..if you love your location, etc so much, stay there if possible. I could not imagine moving w/ 6 kids!
What is up w/ dishwashers this weekend? Mine was open, and my 4 yr old backed up, tripped on it, and fell down hard on the open dishwasher door. All 50 lbs of her, kablunk!!! Now it is hard to close and then it pops open when we push in the lever to open it. While talking to my friend about it..She said her dishwasher door was messed up too! Weird!
Hope you have a good week..
Blessings~
Alyce

Amy L Brooke said...

Wow -- quite the weekend.

I've never tried to sell a house, so I don't know much about that. But I have heard that it helps if it smells like baking and hear you are good at that!

I will pray.

lifelaughterchaos said...

I know...selling a house is a pain...especially the showings. I was just giving a friend "advice" in this area this week. I told her to calculate the amount of money you lose just in realtor fees from buying and selling the homes. That amount is a lot of money that never goes anywhere....so you could "deduct" that price from the amount of the addition if you stay where you are at to figure out what makes most sense.

I know that might make absolutely no sense to you or to anyone else with half a finanical brain...but it does to me in my mine...scary that I actually make really good financial decisions.

Jenny said...

I work in a Real Estate office and its true people like a house that feels lived in, especially if they have kids and are looking for that kind of house.

Have a great evening!
Jenny

Stephanie said...

We put our house on the market last week. It took us months to get it ready because on top of our 3 and 2 yr olds, I had a baby in December and couldn't do much to help with painting. We packed most of the kids' toys and books along with all the family pictures.I am a teacher and my husband works 3 am-7 am so he can stay home with the kids and run his video business. That being said, he is not a good housekeeper at all and I think we can all agree that most men aren't wired to multi-task. That had me worried about having the house ready to show but I have to give him credit, the house has remained much, MUCH more tidy since we put the sign in the yard. I think he has more pride for our home now. He has been sweeping after every meal which I'm ashamed to say only got done about once a week before. In addition, I made a list of things to do each night before we put the kids to bed and it really makes the house ready for the morning. This is the same list he is to use if a realtor wants to show the house during the day: tilt all blinds, close all toilets, pick up any clothes or towels, wipe all counters, etc.. If he can do it, I'm sure you can too and once you do it a few times, it will become second nature! Good luck.

Unknown said...

MB,
Too funny! I had just caught up over lunch reading some blogs today-yours includded and then went outside to calm my barking dog and ended up meeting your Small group leader! What a wonderful lady and a small world! You have good taste in friends--thanks for sharing!
Denise