Take this Home and Sell It!

We are down to the wire. My last day at my job here is June 29, and my first day at my next job ( a part-time one! Yippee!) is just over a week later. The house here in Davenport is not yet on the market, and I am getting super-anxious. For about a year, we have been purging, moving stuff down to my parents' garage in Memphis in spurts, making list after list of "little projects" (which always take more than a little time, even if they're not expensive). The list seems to grow all the time--which is, I think, not the way a list is supposed to work. With kids and dogs under foot, everything takes twice as long. (This, I keep saying, is WHY we are moving back to Memphis, so when we have projects to do, the kids will have cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles to entertain them at a distant location--and we can return the favor!)

So here we are, April fast approaching. Down to the three-month mark. For those who are not terribly familiar with me, I am generally a pretty laid-back person. Except when something big is about to happen. Uncertainty makes me insane. And I know that what the house looks like is a reflection on me and me alone, no matter how much Peter and I are partners and all that mess. It's all about me and my "ability" (and I use that word loosely) to decorate, organize and clean. So when people are coming over, when there's about to be a birthday party, when we're about to go out of town, when we NEED to put a sign in our front yard, I am NOT an easy person to live with. I see the irrational behavior, but I can't seem to stop it. I nag and nag and get all passive aggressive ( a common Midwestern trait whichI seem to have adopted). My temper is short, I get headaches, I need caffeine & ice cream, and nobody does anything to my satisfaction. So, Peter, girls, co-workers & friends, I apologize now, both in retrospect and in advance. I KNOW I am crabby. I KNOW you aren't doing anything wrong. It's just that, well, uncertainty makes me insane.

All of you who wondered: what will you do if the house sells fast and you still have to be in Davenport--you can relax! I don't think that will be an issue at this point. But you never know--miracles can happen! Maybe someone will come in at the first open house and say: "I have always wanted a freshly painted 'California split-level' house with a new sump pump and arched doorways! And thank goodness the outlet covers are white! We'll buy it at your asking price!" Until that moment, I will be a witch, even though I know it's not right.