Whatnot

It is a lovely day. Cool and crisp outside, bright and sunny. School flew by this morning! Laundry is done, the children are happily occupied downstairs, baby is asleep. Sigh...lovely.

Now for some long overdue updates:

We found the house of our dreams and put in an offer. It's a short sale, so the homeowner gets to pick which offer is sent to the bank. She picked us!!! She said she really wanted the house to go to a family. Plus Nathan dropped his car in the fish pond, and Olivia flirted with her! I knew those long eyelashes would come in handy someday! Anyway, the house: it's 2200sf on 1 acre in Auburn. Has a pool. The homeowner did some incredible, top of the line upgrades about 6 years ago. We are now waiting for the bank to get around to responding to us - we figure sometime end of Dec, beginning of Jan.

Eureka - we've been spending lots of time in Eureka this year upgrading that house. It now has new windows, new roof, new sliding glass door, and updated electrical system. We will be making another long trip up there this month to refinish a hardwood floor, replace the bathroom lino, hang a ceiling fan, and a few other misc things. We really wanted to replace the kitchen countertops, but I think it's going to be too ambitious. I think the plan is to finish all the small projects up this trip, then put the house on the market. I think. Maybe. We'll see...Michael acknowledges that this would be best financially, but it is his childhood home. He's such a sentimental softie!! I love that guy!

In preparation for hopefully moving sometime in February, I am beginning deep cleaning projects on our rental. I have been quietly purging small stupid toys (think McDonalds Happy Meal junk), stuffed animals (I swear, they reproduce!!), and anything that looks broken or is unidentifiable. Closets have been purged of unnecessary clothing as well, and seasonal things are packed and out of the way. I need to get out to the garage this week and find 2 specific boxes in the half-a-garage-full-of-boxes-stacked-floor-to-ceiling. I hate that garage.

I have also picked through baby boy clothes and set aside the 0-3 months stuff for easy access. While I was at it, I packaged each size into it's own bag/box. I just hope I can find them when I need them. I have lots of stuff for size 18 months and up, but just a few things for each size below that. Will certainly need a baby shower this time!

Well, I need to wrap this up for now. I want to clean the bathrooms real quick, then hopefully vacuum. Have a great day, everyone!!