What's worse than showing a house for sale?

OK, you've all read my whiny posts about how tough it's been keeping the house tidy and having to vacate the premises for each showing while we've been trying to sell. Now that we've accepted an offer, I was thinking at least that was behind us...but I was wrong.

Our prospective buyers scheduled an inspection of our house for 3:00 yesterday so I was once again tidying and hurrying kids and dogs out the door. By 2:30, our 2 big dogs and 3 of the kids were all in the van, wandering the streets of Salem in a pouring rain. We went to the Post Office, the Family Dollar store, the grocery, the YMCA. I was so proud of my foresight in planning all these errands to keep us occupied. At 4:00, we picked up the other 2 kids from school and went to Wendy's for a snack. We went to the library and poked around town until about 5:00 when we drove by the house to see if the inspection was complete. Nooo....and when I called the realtor, she said they didn't expect to be finished until around 6:30. Swell! And here we were parked in front of the house.

I looked at my 5 starving kids who all had homework...and the bags of groceries that contained the ingredients for our dinner...and the greyhounds who were hungry and desperately in need of a potty break. I closed my eyes and thought about waiting another hour and half in the very crowded van. Uhh, no, not a good option. I told the realtor that we needed to drop off the groceries and Kate and I scurried through the rain with our parcels. We put away the food and scurried back out the door.

OK, no pasta casserole but we still needed to eat...we headed to Kelly's Famous Roast Beef and Seafood. Two fast food restaurants in one day...sigh...I'm such a great Mom. Is ketchup still considered a vegetable? I hope so because the kids had plenty of it with their hot dogs and fries. I called Craig and told him to meet us for dinner, then I tried to walk our dogs in the downpour. They refused to tinkle in the rain so I got soaked with no results...and when I went back into the restaurant, the kids were running a bit wild. Aniyar was playing with the ketchup dispenser, Madiyar and Max were trying their best to be rude and crude in order to get a rise out of the girls, and the girls were yelling at them to stop being immature. Okey dokey, time to wait for Dad in the van before we were permanently banned from the place. By the time Craig arrived, I was really totally over adolescent boy bodily humor, adolescent girl shrieking, and the smell of wet dog. We headed home since it was almost 6:30, praying the inspection would be complete. Fortunately, when we pulled in the driveway at 6:45, everyone was gone. Craig warmed up some leftovers, we fed the dogs, and homework commenced. We survived...and some day I'll look back on the day and laugh...perhaps after therapy for my Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

So far, so good with the inspection. The buyers want to do a lead test and a Radon test, then we'll get a report about the findings. I met the wife last night and it's clear she loves the house so we're feeling pretty positive this deal will go through. If all goes well, we'll be closing on April 8th....don't wanna think about all those boxes to be packed and then unpacked just yet. As my blogger friend Anne said, "Oy!".

We've got a deal!

We accepted an offer on our house today...now it's just clearing inspection on our house and on to closing. If all goes well, we'll be moving in early April. We're looking at paint chips and planning renovations on the "new" house we're buying. It was built in 1920 so it needs some updating...but it has 6 bedrooms!!!

A Mother's Perspective on Winter Vacation's End

Vacation’s over
Boohoo!!
It’s back to school
Boohoo!!

Backpacks ready
Early to bed
Five children’s hearts
Are filled with dread

Up in the morning at the crack of dawn
The kids awaken with a choral whine
“I think I’m sick, I think I’m dying!”
Mom’s response: “Get dressed, you’re fine.”

The house is finally quiet
The school day has begun
Mom’s having coffee
And her own kind of fun

Because…

Vacation’s over
Woohoo!!
It’s back to school
Woohoo!!

We have an offer...again

While we were in New Hampshire, some folks looked at our house for the second time and decided they love it. They've made us an offer and we've counter offered. Now we're waiting for the attorneys to weigh in. We'll know on Monday if we have an agreement. We're hoping this works out but we're not taking any chances. We had a showing today and another one is scheduled for tomorrow.

We've gotten more efficient at cleaning and tidying for a showing. Kate and Dad led the work crew today while I took Max and Aniyar to a doctor's appointment. By the time I got home, Craig was telling everyone to stay off his freshly mopped floors, Tanya was finishing the bathrooms, and Kate had just finished vacuuming all the bedrooms and family room. As for the boys...well, they did tidy their room and help when directed...but cleaning still isn't their strong suit. No, boys, that doesn't mean you'll be excused from clean up duty. Tomorrow is your turn!

Home again...

We returned from NH today about 2:00pm, sad to see our vacation end but glad to be back home with our dogs. We have a lot to remember from this trip...here is a pictorial review of some of our activities.

We started every morning with a trip to the local coffeehouse...because a day without espresso is a day without sunshine.



















We celebrated Valentine's Day over the weekend...





















On Monday, we had an off-road adventure up the side of a mountain...our driver snapped this picture. He couldn't quite believe all these kids were mine. Ha! Sometimes even I have trouble believing it.


The kids saw two movies in town...



They also went ice skating and played hockey...
















Then we went snow tubing at Loon Mountain...so cool at night!
















Some of us were too tired to even watch TV after all the fun...















Some of us took a break from blogging to instruct the children in the fine art of roasting marshmallows...


















Yesterday, we took a hike through the woods on our snowshoes...




Can you tell what the kids are already dreaming of for our next winter adventure?

I Heart New Hampshire!

OK, so the house selling thing is still driving us crazy...we've had offers, accepted one even, but we're still quibbling over conditions. In the meantime, the house is still being shown in case someone else makes us a better offer. Doesn't matter much to me as I'm otherwise occupied.

We're in the White Mountains, in Lincoln, New Hampshire, where we have a vacation condo. We arrived here Saturday afternoon and have been partying ever since. This is Winter vacation week so the kids have no school; we have the whole week to play, sled, swim, and do whatever else we feel like. We brought enough food to fill the fridge here but it won't last long. So far, we've had pasta casserole and garlic bread for dinner last night, bagels for breakfast, fried chicken and mac n' cheese for lunch. I made homemade bean soup for our dinner along with Valentine's day brownies. The kids went ice skating in the morning and then we dropped them off for a movie in town while Craig and I stole a couple of hours alone together. We bought a bottle of champagne to have with a special chocolate cake we brought with us. It's called Chocolate Lover's Cake, very appropriate for Valentine's Day as it's pretty decadent.

We had dinner last night, then ran off to swim in the pool. After that, we had brownies and ice cream, cake and bubbly, followed by movies. It was a fun evening that ended too soon. Too bad Craig had to go to work today...he left us around 4:30am and is now returning to us after a long day. The kids and I amused ourselves as best we could in his absence. We went on a off-road adventure this afternoon, it was a blast driving through the woods and up a mountain in a safari vehicle, then driving down "The Hill of Death". We returned to the condo, ate a quick dinner, then the kids spent 2 hours in the pool. Currently everyone is watching TV or a movie and enjoying more brownies and ice cream.

Not much snow yet but we are supposed to get some tomorrow...we are hoping to use our snowshoes and also go ice skating or snow tubing. We love being here in the North country, no worries until we return home on Friday.

Too low...

The offer we were hoping for was not to be..."the folks" liked our house but wanted us to give it away. We said no and had two more showings over the weekend. So far, no luck. Then we got a request from "the folks" for a 3rd showing...seems they looked at other things over the weekend and nothing was as nice as ours. We'll take another swipe at this at 6pm tomorrow...I just love showings during the dinner hour...not.

Sigh...this house selling stuff is getting old. On Friday, we're out of here, headed to our condo in New Hampshire for winter vacation. We'll sled and ice skate and forget the world for a while. Madiyar thinks he'd like to try snow boarding and Craig is talking about skiing. Tonight at dinner, we discussed what everyone wants to eat while we are in the North Country...it seems I need to pack hot dogs, pasta casserole, fruit, eggs, popcorn, and 5 gallons of milk. Can't wait...as for the house...well, it'll keep until we've had sledding and s'mores and a break from school and work.

One year ago, we had 2 new sons who had been in the country only a few weeks...and 3 kids who weren't sure where we were all headed. Now we have 5 kids who feel and fight and play like they have been together forever. Not bad...

We have an offer...maybe

The house selling saga continues here in Salem. We had a showing yesterday afternoon and the people requested a second showing for last night at 6:00pm. I managed to feed us all dinner and load everyone into the van just as the prospective buyers (and their entire extended family) arrived. We wandered around town for a while with kids and dogs in tow, hoping these folks would fall in love with our house and make us an offer.

Actually, the lady and her teenage girls love the place and our agent says an offer is coming. We're keeping our fingers crossed that it's a number we can live with...and if this doesn't work out, we have a request for another showing on Sunday.

Anybody want to buy a house?

I think I'm losing my mind. When we put our house on the market, I really didn't think it would be so maddening...but after 3 months of open houses, showings, broker walk throughs, and even a broker's luncheon, I'm sick of trying to keep the house looking like it's ready for a photo shoot with "Better Homes and Gardens"...a vain hope with 5 kids, I can assure you!


























We've had 3 showings in the past 4 days and the broker just called to say we have another showing tomorrow. That's good, I guess...it means we're getting more interest so the chances of getting an offer are improving, right? After all, who could resist the marketing done by our agent?

Must see! Well-maintained South Salem Garrison Colonial featuring four bedrooms, two full baths, charming eat-in country kitchen, hardwood floors, and a wonderful large deck off second floor family room. Newer heating system, energy-efficient windows and doors. Fenced-in back yard and two-car off-street parking. Motivated seller.

In our spare time (Ha!), we've been painting woodwork, sanding and repainting bathroom ceilings, and generally trying to spruce things up around here. It's looking pretty good...now if I could just keep our messy kids outside, the place might stay clean long enough to attract a buyer!