Chaos Reigns Supreme

We've been frantically trying to get ready for an Open House this weekend and I have to say I've felt like vomiting the last couple of days, my anxiety is that high. Not only am I not keen on moving, but the whole process is completely overwhelming and stress-causing for me (and don't think I haven't had my fights with hubby over this - boy howdy, have I!). We've looked at a total of three places so far and none of them was suitable. Immediately, I despair because I don't want it to be a situation where we end up selling this place right away and then are panicking to find something and just settle because we don't want it to take a year. I can see why moving is Number Three on the list of Most Stressful Things. Man, I cannot WAIT until this is over, in whatever form that takes. Good news for us is that the place next to us on the corner (which is actually two very small lots, but there is only one house) just sold for $990,000. This now changes our pricing slightly and therefore what we can afford in terms of a "new" house.

I found my dream home on MLS yesterday. Anyone have a spare $1.4 million? Best part is that it is on Heather Street! How ideal would that be? It literally has everything I would want in a house. But alas, we are not millionaires.

The kids have been picking up on the stress and Kestrel's behaviour in particular has been atrocious. By the end of the day I am pulling my hair out and ready to walk out the door and never return. I think one of my biggest problems with this whole process is trying to keep the place in order long enough for someone to buy it and that being an unknown length of time is crazy-making for me. Hey, what can I tell you? I'm a Cancer and I need to know these things well in advance! Now where did I put my crystal ball?

Last night I worked really hard to get the living room photo-ready and my back is paying the price. Of course, as I predicted, the kids have already almost undone it and it is just past seven in the morning! Although, Hayden did at least take a look at the book shelf and comment "Oh, ni!" before he destroyed it. He also told me the same thing when he felt my wet hair, as I had gotten up early to take a shower - busy day ahead today. He touched it and "Oh ni!" I think it's my favorite thing that he says.

He's been quite a mimic lately, but will only repeat something once. So far he's tried "egg", "sissy" (sister) and "baby". He loves "Elmo" (which he now says correctly), "Doda" (Dora) and "Bob-Bob" (Spongebob). Incidentally, his sister used to say "Bob-Bob".

But back to the moving business for just a moment. The basement has now been cleaned up and sorted and organized and looks more like a basement now than it ever did in the last six years. The last time I was down there helping hubby (I've been limited by my asthma, 'cuz there's a whole lotta dust down there!) we found a large bag of Hannah's stuffed animals, a variety of them that date back to her birth. At first I was going to let her just go through it herself, but then hubby said "let's just get it over with", so we did. Good thing, too, because as we started to sort through it, a nasty odor began to waft out and it was obviously "Eau de Dead Mouse". Sure enough, there it was stuck to Hannah's straight-from-Australia koala bear. Some of the toys had to be tossed immediately and I tried to salvage the rest by washing them. But you know, the smell of death is a hard one to get rid of and you can see why burning is the only way to really deal with it. So they still smell. The only scent I know stronger than "Death" is Patchouli, so here's my plan. I've sprinkled some tissues and paper towel with patchouli, carefully folding them so the oil doesn't stain any of the toys. I've tucked them in and around the toys in their plastic box and we'll see what battle ensues between the two odors while they're in there. I'm rooting for Patchouli! Give it up for dank, earthy, moss smell!

Phew, I'm exhausted just from relating all of this! Later, then.