Here we go go go!

Well, we're officially on the market now. We listed with Remax. I'm not sure I like out listing agent, but I don't think it matters how much I like her as long as she gets the job done.

We haven't had any bites yet, but we've had horrible weather...and to be honest, our house isn't really ready to be viewed. Our carpets desperately need a deep cleaning, but it can't really be done till all this nasty weather is gone. There is still a bit of clutter as well (one of those the house got a lot worse before it got any better sort of thing), but nothing too bad. The kitchen and all guest rooms are good to show (even the carpet on the guest side of the house), so it's just the living room, a little bit in our bedroom, and the garage (cluttered from uncluttering the inside). We also need to sweep up our back patio and straighten the furniture.

The listing coordinator suggested we paint one of the guest bedrooms, our room, and maybe the kitchen (all shades of blue), but I'm going to hold off. The kitchen is an absolute no go for paint. The cabinets are white, going to a neutral wall would make them look awful. The guest bedroom is a very nice oceany color that is wildly popular at the moment and I am so sick of paining. As for our room...I really love it, I hate to think of spending the rest of our time here in a very blah room, and moving our bed is a real huge ordeal.

On a side note, I found some more boxes I love. I snagged them while at Wal-Mart the other day. They are the boxes from bags of Malt O Meal cereal. They're just a little bit taller and wider than the paper ream boxes. They're nice and sturdy. I wish I'd been able to get more (I only got about six). I'm much happier with boxes I've gotten from Wal-Mart than Target. They close better and just seem sturdier.

Does it not exist?

I am a list maker. On any given day I have a to do list and a to get list somewhere on me. I gather things, I print things, I file things, I stick things to things. I like to at least feel organized. I also like the sense of accomplishment I get when I mark something off my list. So when we started gearing up for the move I thought this would be a great excuse for a new organizational tool. A nice program or binder to organize selling, buying and moving.

I started my search in November. The organizer would make a good Christmas present for myself. Thus far I haven't found anything even close to what I am looking for. Lowe's has an online "Mover's Toolbox," but it's a bit silly. It just has a bunch of the normal tips you hear: "a fresh coat of paint goes a long way, clean your carpets, declutter and depersonalize." They do have a few nice check sheets, but that's the only thing I saw of any real use.

If you want to check it out it can be found here.

I'm working on putting together my own organizer, but it's slow going. I don't know what all should be in there. If I ever manage to finish it then I'll go ahead and throw it up.

And they're all made out of ticky tacky

I'm a bit funny about certain things. I HATE putting cheese dip away (even if it's just putting tin foil on top and sticking it in the fridge). I HATE logging into our online banking system (I never get the info right since they changed the set up).

Another of these things is that I won't buy boxes. I don't think I'm alone on this one, but I do get some strange looks when I vehemently oppose any suggest of grabbing a few boxes at Lowes. My ideal moving boxes are from cases of paper. They're fairly sturdy, they have caps so you don't have to use tape, they stack perfectly, and unless you're filling them with textbooks they're not likely to be too heavy for me to carry. Last time I moved I worked at a commercial insurance company (means l

ots of printing and copying) and was buddies with the copy guys so I had all the boxes I wanted. This time, not so much. I'm doing my best to collect them at the University, but it's just not as simple when you have to go office by office.

I've been using a lot of Priority Mail boxes (shhhhhh...), but they're really too small. I've begun snagging them from Target and Wal-Mart if I see someone unloading, but that's hit or miss, and I'm not in town that often to check.

I will not yield though. I am going to complete this move without buying cardboard boxes even if it means I am packing in Wal-Mart bags.

The Six Step Program

Step One: Pack up old house

Step Two: Clean/Fix old house

Step Three: Sell old house

Step Four: Find new house

Step Five: Clean/Fix new house

Step Six: Unpack in new house

It looks so simple all listed out this way. Don't get me wrong. I'm not so naive that I thought it would be a simple, stress free process. I did not, however, realize just how truly difficult this

would be.

First of all, how did my husband and I accumulate SO MUCH STUFF over the last five years?? When we moved into this house I thought we'd never fill this whole place up. I mean, really, two people, three bedrooms? That's gads of space no? Alas, we managed to fill every nook and cranny of this dadgum place. Our guest bedroom closet had me in tears TWICE. I thought the stuff would never end...and stuff I don't even know why we own (needless to say we've been filling up scores of trash bags). And the kitchen? FOUR blenders, FOUR!

Now that we've emptied the guest bedrooms, and as much of our common rooms as possibly possible we've begun the "touch-up" process. I say "touch-up" because I'm not certain you can call completely repainting multiple rooms merely a "touch-up." Overall we've been pretty good to the house. There is a bit of damage to the corners of baseboards from when our pups were puppies, but really, nothing major. I have learned a few things for the next house though. Never, NEVER repaint baseboard

s, ceilings, or doors. No matter how in style it is; no matter how much more complete it makes the room seem. JUST DON'T DO IT....unless of course it is your forever home (which we never had the expectation of this being). Never color kitchen cabinets, they take too much touch-up.

All of this just takes us to step two...and preps us for step three. Steps four through six are the real doozies. Trying to find a good school for my PhD that has good job opportunities for my husband is enough to give me stomach ulcers. I am a bit lucky in that my husband happens to be a very marketable commodity, and has a bit of cushion should things not go quite as smoothly as hoped. If this weren't the case I might well have already given up and decided to stay put (a thought that has crossed my mind on more than one occasion).

I'll try to chronicle the move here; list anything I come across that makes moving (in or ou

t)easier or less stressful and any huge mistakes I make along the way that could have been avoided.