Wizard of Oz

Here we are... Ready for a night of trick-or-treating. I was Dorothy, Booboo was the Lion, Coocoo was the Tin Man, Dad was Scarecrow, and Tiki was Toto. But tonight only the older boys and I dressed up. I hope I can get a copy of the family picture from the night of the big party. My husband looked awesome! We had a great time. I love Halloween because it's so much fun to dress up, and it's such a magical time for the kids.

Tomorrow, I'm gonna try to convince them to sell their candy to me, though. I heard some dentists do that, but I haven't checked around. They don't need it, and I really don't need it!

mounds and mounds of crap

I'm hosting a multi-family yard sale here on Saturday. I finally got around to going through the house this morning for stuff to sell. I had actually convinced myself that we had done such a good job sending things off to charity in the past that I wouldn't find much to sell. Boy was I wrong. My attic is full of boxes and baby items. That is actually the reason for the sale. But I found far more in the basement storage than I realized was there. I mean stuff from boxes we moved in here more than 4 years ago. I also found treasures, like photos I thought were missing and artwork.
I hauled much of it into my garage to clean up and price. Not paying attention, as usual, I piled it all up behind my golf cart. I use the golf cart to get my more elderly massage clients down to my basement office so they don't risk falling down the stairs. So of course, at 11:30 I found my client standing in the garage wondering how to get to her ride. My children will be doing the same thing tomorrow night when it's time to trick-or-treat. Ugggh. I have no choice but to get in there later today and move it all to the other side.

Right now, I can't imagine I'll make enough to warrant all the time and work involved. It is a nice way to clean out the house, though. Especially in the case that we ever sell it. And yard sales are green, right?

red wine induced rambling

What a nice moment. I had no idea how much I missed my computer. The baby is sleeping, the kids are downstairs playing, and I can smell a wonderful pork tenderloin cooking in oven. Oh, and I'm enjoying a nice glass of pinot noir. Is it a bad sign when you start drinking your wine from a tinted juice cup? I always break my wine glasses.

Anyway, I love having my desk next to the kitchen. I feel like an adult again. I'm still in the phase of holding Tiki ALL the time when he's awake. This desk is like a corner of "adult world" where I have MY stuff. All the cords are conceiled, so I don't have to worry anymore about Tiki chewing on the cables or pulling stuff down. I love being next to the kitchen and in the middle of everything going on with the family. I can turn the study into a real bedroom for him. Not that I ever wanted it to come to that. It can't be good for the market to have a makeshift bedroom... I'm not gonna worry about that right now. Dammitt, having a house on the market for so long with three very young boys is downright stressful. I get so tempted to just take it off for awhile. But we need to unload it. The lot payment is expensive. And there is the new office space we have a verbal contract on. That's exciting news, but it's still secret and I don't have time to get into it, so I'll write about that later. It has been a great distraction for me, though! I'm just so damn obsessive!

I'm back online!

Man, I've really missed having access to my computer! I got a new desk this week for an area near my kitchen, so I could finally move the computer out of the baby's room. My cousins were in town, and they helped me get the computer hooked up after my husband and I assembled the desk. Not surprisingly, given my inablilty to plan, my cousin found that we had no phone connection near the new desk! Ahhhh! During the middle of our "What do we do now?!" conversation, my hubby casually suggested he run a phone wire to the new location. Why, my dear, I think that just may work! So, today he got my phone jack in, and I am up and running! (thank you, sweetie)

As an answer to a question I got today about the house. Nothing is happening. We had an open house which drew two lookers, and I think that is great. Also, a man dropped in last week and asked about the house. My agent said he called her and she's worked with him in the recent past. He currently has a very low offer on a house in a nice up and coming neighborhood that is heading for forclosure. She doesn't expect it to work out. So, maybe we'll hear from him again. I'm okay today though. I have my moments... I think the winter will be fine because I like this house during the winter. It's the spring and summer when I get the big itch to move on. I want a super energy efficient home and access to a pool in the summer. Plus the winter just goes by so quickly. I'm optimistic that the spring will bring in a new, refreshed group of buyers, and the economy will begin to recover.

In the meantime, I need to go begin to prepare for a big multi-family yard sale some of my friends and I are having next weekend. I'm trying to talk them into having mimosa's like my friend did at her recent yard sale. Fun!

So down...

It's so hard to feel positive right now. The election has me crazy. I feel like we might get some hope back if we feel happy with our president. I've been on the fence about who I like better; I wish we could pick and choose policies.

I don't know where we are going in the financial market. Part of me feels like we are a nation of spoiled bratty kids who don't know how to manage our money, so a little recession (okay a big one) may help us set our priorities straight. What I worry about more, though, is how vulnerable this makes us to our enemies. I feel like we are a big, loud target right now, and that is frightening.

Lastly, the housing market. My two showings Saturday may have just made me feel worse. One couple loved the house except the kitchen isn't big enough. Really, how big of a kitchen do we need, people??? The other couple want a more private back yard. Mine backs up to a golf course. I can't blame them for that.

We're gonna have our first public open house Sunday. Really, my agent is just trying to make me happy. I don't expect anything to come of it.

I'm very down today about it all. I know we just have to ride it out. I think maybe things will begin to look up after the election.