Still Packing

We started loading our shipping container yesterday.  It’s pretty bittersweet.  

Because we want to keep the house looking as staged as possible, we’re having to pick and choose from each room what should get packed first.  Last night, we decided my bookshelves were going to be our first task.

I have a lot of books.  I love books.  They’re functional decoration. 🙂  That also means I have A LOT of book shelves.  Here’s what they looked like in our living room yesterday morning:
That engineer husband of mine calculated that this was close to 1,000lbs of books.  We turned the shelves on their sides and packed them with books so we could use every single inch of space.  

Here’s what my living room looks like without them…
It’s so sad and boring now.  We should probably hang a picture there, but I don’t feel like putting another hole in the wall for just a week.

BUT, it all condensed and packed really well and now I know that our house will fit into 2 of the shipping containers that we ordered. 🙂  I’m getting more and more excited as we get closer to our moving date (a week from Friday!).  Our house has had a few showings and we’re trying to be calm and zen about it selling.  It will sell.  It will.  🙂

Tonight, we’re tackling my office and family room.  We have this container until Thursday and container 2 comes on Friday.

I’m thinking of this next week as the home stretch.  It’s almost over.  And then great things are going to happen!

Clean House

Our house has been on the market for 3 1/2 days now and it’s 3rd showing is tonight.  I’m glad people are looking at it, I just really hope someone is interested in it.  I want someone to love our house as much as we love our house.  🙂  And I really want it to sell before we leave in 2 weeks.  

Because it’s been showing almost every night this week, I’ve been cleaning the entire house everyday.  I am so tired of cleaning.. 😉
BUT, I think, for the first time in almost 26 years, I finally understand how to keep my house clean and looking good.  I have a bad habit of letting the clutter and the animal hair and the dishes get out of control.  And then I try to tackle everything, get overwhelmed, and refuse to clean again for 2 weeks.  But, now that I’m going over everything daily, I’ve noticed that it’s a lot easier.  I spend less time cleaning because I’m cleaning more often.  I’m sure most of you (and my mom… Hi MOM!) are already aware of this cleaning phenomenon, but evidently I needed to experience it to understand it.  

On the flip side, I’m also afraid to use my house because I don’t want to have to re-clean something.  The dogs have been angels all week because I’m letting them sleep on our bed all day long so that in the evening when there’s a showing, I just have to fluff the duvet, throw on their leashes, and head to the car.  They think they’re getting away with something, but hey, it’s a win-win.

In other news, the NCCRM sent me the link to their online portal.  Yes. It’s online.  All of it.  I signed in, filled out our histories (and boy, there was a whole lot more than the last time I saw a new RE…), and hit “save”.  That was it.  It also shows future appointments, test results, instructions, medication, and more.  It’s awesome!  I don’t have most of my records from Dr. B’s because they only told you what you needed to know or asked for.  Now, I’ll have access to everything so I can obsess about it throughout every single piece of my cycle. 😉  But really, I’m excited to have a place to see and store all of that information.  I’ve got good feelings about this place!  My appointment is less than 4 weeks away and I can’t wait!

We leave 2 weeks from tomorrow!  I can’t believe the time is going so quickly! We’re using 2 containers from PackRat to ship our things down to North Carolina and our first one will be here on Monday.  I’m excited!  Now if only this house would sell…

And Finally… Good News!

After so much bad lately, we’ve finally got some wonderful news!  We got our house, blue kitchen and all!!  We’re going to be homeowners!!

We got an email with the “unofficial” yes this evening.  They just need to file some paperwork and we can schedule a closing date.  They’re aiming for August 20 right now.  I’m so happy to have something good to look forward to. 🙂  And all of the painting and packing and moving will keep me nice and busy, which is exactly what I need right now.

It’s an adorable 3 bedroom ranch with a living room, dining room, eat in kitchen, family room, and big bay window for the cats.  It’s too big for us, but we’re still hoping. 🙂

20 minutes after we got our email, Jeremy and I were in the car on our way to visit our house.  It’s only 10 minutes from where we’re living now.
I’m hoping this is just the first in a long line of good news.  We’re 12 days past “ovulation” today, part of me is hoping that Dr. B is wrong and I did manage to ovulate this month and we’ll get to celebrate double good news.  I know, I’m being greedy. 😉  I’m definitely feeling better today; still very tired (maybe even more so), but WAY less sore than I’ve been.  I’ll take extra sleepy over pain any day.

We picked up some small boxes at Home Depot this evening so I can start packing the non-essentials over the next couple weeks.  First up, my hundreds of books.  Thank goodness for moving companies. 😉
Alice is “helping”..

Positive, Positive, Positive

I’m focusing on the positives today.

1.  We leave on our vacation Friday morning.  We’re leaving Chicago super early and going through Detroit to have lunch with a friend from college, then straight to Toronto to see Jeremy’s Grandparents.  We’ll stay there until Sunday morning, when we’ll drive to a cute little inn in Niagara Falls.  We usually go to warm locations on our spring vacations, but I’m looking forward to not having to wear my bikini this year.  That clomid has not been kind to my mid section. 😉  Not to mention I’ll be taking clomid over the course of our entire trip.  Hot flashes on a beach?  No thank you.  In hind sight, this was a well planned location. 🙂 50 degrees = sweaters and hoodies!

2. We have wine tasting vouchers to 5 different wineries in Niagara Falls.  As for me?  There is no two week wait or baby up in here.  HELLOOOOO, Wine Tasting. 😉 *hands Jeremy the keys*

3.  We have a jacuzzi in our hotel room.

4.  We put an offer in on the house with the blue kitchen!!!

5.  My mom gave me a giftcard for new shoes.  I’m going shoe shopping tomorrow. 🙂

I am happy today.  I will be happy tomorrow.  In fact, I will probably be happy for the next 24 days… 🙂  I should plan a vacation or buy a house after my period starts every month. 😉

Blue Kitchens

Still hanging in here at 12 dpo and CD 31.  Still getting negative pregnancy tests though.  Who knows what’s going on…  This excess water weight is killing me very slowly though…

On a positive note, I think we may have found our house. =)
The kitchen spoke to me…

Do you see those tiles in the back splash?  They’re Swedish tiles.  My mom and sister have some of these exact tiles hanging in their kitchen.  I’ve always wanted some of my own.  It’s fate.  And it’s blue.  I LOVE every part of the kitchen.  Plus a double oven, first floor laundry off the kitchen, HUGE family room, and a big backyard.  Only negative: no basement.  But I love it so much that I’m ok with that.

We’re talking about putting an offer in soon.   It’s a short sale, so who knows how it will turn out.  I’m already attached. 😉