Where In The World Are We? Cleaning Our House.

About a month ago I was planning a trip down to my parents' house, and I was talking to my mom about our weekend. My mom's the Ultimate Planner of All Time. I'm not capitalizing that to be bloggy about it; I think she might have an actual banner or sash or trophy with this title captured on it. At least, she should.

So we were chatting about how to best make use of our time, and I said something like, "Marta will need a nap from about 11-1." And she said, "Well, is that for sure?" And I said, "Yes, she'll definitely need a nap." And she said, "Are you sure it'll be from 11-1? She won't run late, will she?"

Trevor and I giggled for at least a week after that, any time one of us (ME) would say something like, "We'll be there at 3," because we have little kids and really, your very best plan is only tentative until your youngest child is probably 7 or 8. (Parents of 7- and 8-year-olds, feel free to correct me, but you may also keep me naively in the dark until we reach that stage and learn for ourselves.)

I feel an awful lot like my mom when it comes to our house. (And many, many other things involving organization, planning and list-writing. Also brainstorming, grammar, full-service gas stations, keeping tissues in every coat pocket and shopping.) We've had it on the market for awhile now, and while in the beginning we had at least one or two showings a week, the economy took a huge dive the day we were supposed to get an offer and suddenly no one was looking anymore. So it wasn't so scary to have that sign in our yard. But now, with a showing literally every other day, and every other showing is a second showing or a third showing, and with our Realtor telling us that we're at the "top" of no fewer than four couples' "lists" and with an offer expected any day now, I'm feeling the need to run out on the lawn and rip the sign down.

I know this is not news to you, faithful readers. I love our house. It serves us well. I can run three miles and never leave my beautiful neighborhood. My kids aren't confined to sidewalks. I could go on and on, and if you'd like to remember all of my reasons for loving our house, please review my recent posts. (Basement playroom! Don't forget about the playroom!)

Yes, we do want to progress to our land downtown. In order to do this, we need to rent a house while we build, and here is where the wrench is thrown. If I knew we'd have a great rental, I'd be OK. But I don't. And you can't have gone through the past year of SHOWINGS! and NO SHOWINGS. and SHOWINGS! and expect to go search every rental in town possibly wasting your time and the time of the other home owners.

Also a big bummer is the lack of "Rental MLS" on the Internet. I can look at houses for sale all day online and get an idea for what's out there, but when it comes to renting, I'm stuck with a few questionable ads in the paper.

I am happy about the showings and the positive feedback we're getting on the house. But I'm nervous because I can't foresee the future -- I don't know when Marta's going to nap, you know? And there's no way I can know this. I can't research it, can't ask people about it, can't watch a show about it (ha! As if I even know how to work my TV outside of making Dora work).

If you are in fact a faithful reader I do apologize, because you're probably so tired of hearing me blog about this. "Seriously, are you still upset about selling your house THAT YOU WANT TO SELL?" Yes, and my skin is oddly overly dry. These are my major concerns.

I remember when we bought this house, and when we were at the title company I thought I would throw up. I couldn't believe we were leaving our little first home and moving onto a family home that we'd have a family in and be a family of more than just the two of us. The implications were overwhelming.

I think they're overwhelming me again. I've never built a house before. I'm married to a non-frugal person who will want only the fanciest pantsiest stuff in his house (you might remember my week-long shock over his $250 jeans). I have two kids, and we're probably going to have more sooner rather than later. We have no house to move into, no place for our stuff, and no certain plan.

But we turned out pretty well here. We grew into this house and grew out of it (cue: annual garage sale). We fit perfectly again and more and more families moved onto the block. We put in landscaping, built a deck and showed our neighbors that we can be a little shameless when it comes to letting our dog wander. I think we can do it all again.