As If Waiting For Christmas Wasn't Hard Enough

According to my Christmas Countdown App... hold it right there.... you don't have one?  You know they're free right?  And 2 year olds la-hove them.  At least my Christmas-obsessed two year old does.  Every morning while we're eating breakfast Kole says, "It's Cwismas today!"  And I say, "It is?  We haven't even put the tree up!  Oh rats!"  And he laughs and laughs and then asks for hot chocolate.  I tell him no way jose and he starts in again with "But... It's Cwismas today."

(Side note:  I say 'No Way Jose' a lot to Kole.  He tries to repeat it in similar situations but always leaves out the "way."  So it sounds like he's just always angry at our gardener.  "No Jose!  No Jose!")

According to my Christmas Countdown App there are 97 days until Christmas.  I'm dyyyyyying!  I can't take it anymore!  I wish Christmas were here today.  But even more than I want December 25th to be here....

.... I want October 13th to be here!
Because (I think it's my brother in laws birthday) WE'RE MOVING!

To a house.
Ahhhhhhhh.  Exhale.
We've been in our townhouse for 1 year 1 month and 29 days.
It has served it's purpose.  But with the arrival of Josie (<---- I call Joey Josie sometimes.  I think it's okay since he is a baby.) our place seems so much smaller.  I think it's the crying.  The crying that fills the entire house.  Every hour and a half.  All night long.  Which is friggin' bizarre because during the day he is Mr. Sunshine and at night he is El Diablo.
I'd been begging Ken to move into one of the 3 bedroom apartments here.  That way it will be really super easy to let Joey cry it out. Oh, yeah.  I let my babies cry it out.  I'm heartless, cruel, and callous.  Ken didn't see how having an extra room would make that much of a difference (really?) but our rent went up.  WAH WAH!  And I happen to be cruising the local papes and found a gem of a house right in our price range.

It wasn't a hard sell:

I mean let's compare here...

Current Back Yard

Oh wait... let me give you a better angle... to make it look bigger.

Hmph.  No use.  Oh well.

Here's the future back yard:

Hello!  Come to mama!

 A few things I'd like to point out.  1.) There's grass.  Like enough for us to have a picnic on.  2.)  Those trees!  Look how big they are!  3.)  Is that a patio I see?  Are those burgers grilling I smell?  I hope someones bringing potato salad cuz we're having a cook out!

Here is the front yard where we live now:

Front yard fail. 
We are lucky we have the handicap spot in front of us so no one can park their junky car there.

Here's the front yard where we are moving:

Run Koley!  Enjoy the freedom of not having to dodge cars!
Run with wreck-less abandon, my son!
(Did you get the pun there?  Clever girl, that Patty.)

It's a great house.  (And for only $25 more than we'd be paying in rent here.)  I am obviously most excited about the yard.  And the land.  Oh, my dear.  Had I forgot to mention?  It sits on 2 acres.  Totally ours.

It's unbelievable.  I'm beyond excited.  Beyond grateful.

Now.  In fairness to Ken.  He picked the townhouse where we live now.  There are things I will miss.  The island in the kitchen.  The cute cubbie under the stairs we turned into a playroom for Kole.  The... the... Hmmm.  I won't miss the weird smell the downstairs bathroom always resonates.  Or the rotten kids playing di-RECTly outside my window.  Or the multiple daily walks to the dumpster.
But this place had some wonderful memories.

Kole and Ken became inseparable.

 

Kole learned to walk here.

...and eat on his own.

He got his first hair cut here. 

Kole switched to a big bed.
Okay... that wasn't the happiest memory.
But it's better now.

I got pregnant with Joey.

And this is where we brought him home...

...To be a family.

But don't think for one second that all that sentimentality is going to stop me from leaving this place in the dust.  Well.  Literally spotless... so we get our deposit back... but metaphorically... in the dust.

Wish I Was Raving- but I'm Ranting.

I had a house showing today.  My house has been on the market for almost a year.  It has showed at least 50 times.  That is not a joke.  I have scrubbed this place top to bottom fifty freakin' times.  With a baby, that's not easy.  Yesterday my perky realtor called and asked if she could show it today. 
"Sure!"
I always get my hopes up.  So from yesterday at about 3 to this morning at about 9 it was scrub, scrub, scrub.  (I also tended to Koley and slept for 7 hours.)  The place "pinged" when you looked at it.  We left for an hour so the people could look at it.
Janny called at about 3 today.  "They loved you house!  They really, really love it.  Especially the wife."

I am waiting to hear And they have put together an offer!  Would you like to come in so we can discuss it?

Janny continues, "They just want to mull it over.  You know him haw around a bit.  Sit on it for a couple days.  Think it all over."

Do they teach them these euphemisms in Realtor School?  I took it as a no-go. I asked her when she would get in touch with them again.  I wondered if their him hawing would be a day or two or a month or two.  She said she would give them until next Monday or Tuesday and then call.  And then she says this:
"You know, Patty?  Just one little tip that I think would really help your house to sell..."

I'm all ears Janny.

"The baseboards at the bottom of your basement stairs look like they could use a good scrubbing.  Or a new paint job.  I think that would really help things out."

I swallowed.  And held my tongue.  And quickly said my goodbyes.  I didn't know if I wanted to cry because the entire house is sparkling except for some downstairs baseboards or laugh because Janet thinks if only those baseboards were clean this house would just FLY off the market!
I chose to laugh.  Damn you baseboards.  If only you had been clean this whole time!  A buyer would have offered full price for my house!  But you!  You have ruined everything, dirty baseboards.