Saturday morning (the day of the first open house) we woke up early to get started on our unfinished projects. At 6, Dave ran to Home Depot to buy a new drill because we'd packed ours up and sent it to live in the Pod for a month... he added the missing hardware on the extra kitchen cabinets we'd done a year or so ago. (Yes, until this point they'd been just sitting there, naked and topped with plywood... On Friday the carpenters came and installed the butcher block and did the trimwork.) I ran around with only one contact in (I tore my left one in the rush) pretty much legally blind in my left eye, squinting to do the paint touch-ups. (It was at this point that I almost lost it... I'd been pretty chill the whole 9 days along but when I realized I couldn't see it was - Dave- "It's almost over." And me- "But I can't see!!! How am I supposed to look at anythig with a critical eye if I can't see?!!!" --- Yes, I really said that. Not my best moment. He knows me pretty well and just didn't say anything. God I love that man. ) I frantically cut hyrangea & spread them around the house in jars, all the while worrying about the funny smell of the paint in our basement because the contractors had just finished with the ceiling. Every time I finished with a room, I'd close the door and the kids' security clearances were revoked.
{Yes, that's a muffin squished into his eye.}
(By the end they were relegated to the foyer as our realtor helped them put on their shoes and fed them cookies & that's when I knew it was the home stretch.) I jumped in the back or our minivan to feed (wailing) baby Luke as Dave turned the car on and "blasted" the air at my behest while people arrived early for the open house. Dave ran through the yard with the lawn mower (Him- "A mowed lawn is important to men.") as Christian & Justin got extra allowance for picking up sticks. I watched and thought about how I'd wished I'd gotten more weeding done in the gardens as the van (which was blasting air) got hotter and hotter. I opened the door because the hot air outside was better than the inside. The baby's tiny little body stuck to my dress and we were a sweaty mess. When Dave finally showed back up to load the kids in the car it was, "Oh sorry babe, I'd had the heat on."
We drove a few houses down so I could feed the baby before driving to the eye doctor's. We watched as the cars came pouring down our street for the open house. (I know that sounds creepy and I hoped no one would notice us, but with the hungry baby, we really had no choice.) As more time went by and none of the cars had left yet, we felt a little better. Anytime there was a lag in the stream of cars, we worried. We noticed cars leaving, driving around and going back. That was a good sign.
Once the baby had had his fill, it was off to the eye doctors' and then to my mom's house where we showerd and promptly DROPPED. (We had already decided we were not going home Saturday night because there was no way we could keep our house clean for even a night for Sunday's open house.) We waited for news from our realtors and I was in total shock as they called and told us the good news. (I typically worst-case scenario everything at the last minute, and by the end of the day had convinced myself that no one could ever want our house.) Saturday night was great as two of my best friends stopped by to celebrate (One who I haven't seen in over a year just home from Paris!) and we gorged (or maybe it was just me who gorged) on food from the Lebanese Taverna.
{Habeeb.com}
We stayed at my mom's all day Sunday and reviewed offers that night. This (below) was the awesome note we came home to:
{The "Buy me" note was a last-minute attempt as I dashed out of the house before the open house}
...We are now officially under contract and are set to move mid-September!!! I'm definitely sad to leave this place (getting teary honestly) but I am so happy that the people buying our house seem to love it as much as we do. I think they'll take great care of this place we've poured so much into & I'm sure they'll make it their own in no time. I'll miss some of our neighbors terribly but know that they're friends for life & moving won't change that.
I'll be back this week to share some long overdue before & afters of our house... sort of a little goodbye string of posts I have planned. I am DEFINITELY making a video tour of my house before I leave so I can "visit" whenever I want. (I know I have issues ;)
Also, thank you so much to all of the readers who came out to see our house!! Hope you enjoyed & thank you so much for the support!!
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