The News from Christiansburg

Where all the women are strong, the men are good looking and the children are above average...

I don't know where time goes. I really don't. It's been another week gone and I can't account for it.

On the Sell-This-House update:
It still isn't officially for sale. We met with the second real estate lady (35 years of experience, through and very nice).. but still haven't signed any contract or taken that lunge.
The consensus of them is... we need to make the place clutter free and sparkle.
HOW that is supposed to happen while raising 4 kids and running a (ahem, blush) poorly organized business from the basement is BEYOND me.

So everyday I try to get it clutter free and everyday the clutter seems to multiply. I can't figure it out. I've taken 6 loads of stuff to goodwill, yet it seems endless the amount of stuff that is just stashed somewhere that needs a home in our home or in someone else's...

I have managed to re-do the floors- essentially clean them real good and then use this as-seen-on-TV potion that actually works to give them a like-new shine. Even our cheap faded faux-pergo looks better. It was fairly easy the week we had the flu. (well, the kids all had it) because about all the energy they had was to sit on the couch and watch TV between sleeping. Yes. Sleeping. The kids that don't sleep were napping for hours at a time during the day. So, I guess it was God's way of giving me a break and giving me some down time for them for me to get some stuff accomplised.

And we need to "spruce up" the outside. So.. Larry has spent now 3 days powerwashing the deck and says he still has another 1-2 days left. That doesn't include staining or sealing it.

The front flower beds still need to be mulched
The boat need to be sold
The backyard could stand to be mowed with a hay mower and the over grown flower beds in the back need some attention
And they thought we should open the pool and make it look nice and shiny..

And Larry is entertaining the thoughts of roofing it himself and painting the outside ourselves. I have exercised my option to veto the "paint the outside of the house " proposal, but I've been over-ruled in the past.

AND ALL THIS need to happen by last week so we can try to sell this house before we are renting AND paying a mortgage.

And about the rent vs buy debate. Usually we'd buy in a heartbeat rather than spend the $ on rent that we'll never see again. Even when you account for the hassle factor, if you figure saving $40,000 in rent for a few weeks aggravation.. the hourly pay rate is pretty staggering.
BUT that said.. I think we'll be in the rental market. We are unsure if we'll be there 1 or 3 years, so with the 1 year potential, we have the potential to take a bath in the real estate market and with the move to the land of waaaayyyyyyyy over priced real estate.. where some houses lost $100,000 in value this year.. we will be renting. And probably cringing at the money we are spending which will get us no equity, but probably the wiser decision in the long run.

Unless the drive across the desert heat gets to us and when we get there we find someplace we'd rather buy.. well then.. we'll have bought a house.

The housing list update:
Still number 8. And on the advice of another military wife, I called the housing office and talked to them. She said, until we report for duty, we can't be assigned a house. So, why, you might ask would we be on the housing list? I don't know. She did say before we look for something to rent, when we get there, check in with her and she'll see what she has.

What a crazy system THAT is. Essentially we will have stuff in transit to "destination to be determined" and as the movers drive off into the sunset, they won't know their final destination and neither will we.

I can see the Navy lifestyle and my need to have the details ahead of time are not going to be real compatible.