Sunday, March 09, 2008

Best in show?

I feel like I've been planning a party for royalty. Cleaning, painting, touching up scuffed walls, removing excess furniture and toys, weeding, trimming trees, scrubbing the oven. Today was our Open House. Today was also the last day of the Heritage Festival. What this means is that Tim has been home for approximately 5-6 hours a day for the past 2 weeks, and most of that time has been spent sleeping. I thought Darci was exaggerating last year when she said that I should just pretend that he was TDY. But she WASN'T. Anyway.

Tim got home at about 10pm last night, and pulled into the driveway to see me up on a ladder removing the jail bars from our kitchen windows. "What the HECK are you doing?" Yeah, well, you can't really get everything done during naps. And I was so sick of those bars! I do not know what Tucson's fascination was with bars on house windows during the 1970s, but Yuck. Of course, not yuck enough for me to have removed them before our house went on the market. Also, I see why they call them security bars. What criminal is going to spend that much time taking the bars off the window in order to break in?

It took about an hour (see also: vice grips, 3" rusted security bolts, me placed precariously on a ladder, and 40 pound bars), but I got the bars off the two kitchen windows, and what do you know there are mountains outside! What a view.

I have gotten a lot done this week. I repainted the entryway wall from brown to blue. I would show you pictures, but I think my husband took the camera to work again today. The wall looks okay. It is lighter than I had wanted, and too fleshy-/peachy-brown for my taste, but I was at Lowe's by myself and didn't have time to take a sample home with me and let me see the color hanging on my wall under various lighting conditions. It looks better at night, when it is darker, and I guess the main thing is that it is no longer blue. I miss the blue, but it's not going to be my home for much longer, now is it? *crosses fingers*

I also painted the master bathroom; it had 2 similarly-entryway blue walls before and now it is all cream. All but one of our strollers (oops, make that 2 - I always forget about the double single jogging stroller in the backyard) are in the storage unit, I pruned the palm tree and manicured the gravel in the front yard, and weeded the backyard.

Today was the grand finale: the Open House. I'm not a real estate agent, and I'm not sure how you run these things, but wouldn't you advertise your event or something? To make it worth your while? Maybe our agent did. I don't know. All I know is that she was here for 3 hours this afternoon, and 2 buyers and another agent came through. That's it. THAT'S IT. Deep breath. Apparently one of the buyers is the father of our new neighbors and he wants to live close to his daughter and her sons? Sounds sketchy to me, but if he wants to buy the house, be my guest. You can't get much closer to your kids that right next door.

So, I planned for a huge party and no one came. I feel a little like a loser. A really tired loser.

8 comments:

Andrea and Ben said...

I think that is how open houses go. A lot of realtors just don't even do them anymore for that reason. I am glad you took the bars off. I really don't get them. I get that they are for safety, but they look so ghetto.

Deborah said...

Wow. You're Superwoman, Jen. Great job! And congrats on getting your Hubby back home! :)

Jen said...

I did just talk with my neighbor who sold her house (to the woman whose father might or might not be interested in our house...), and she said her agent had multiple open houses for them and one time no one came. So, at least I guess it's normal!

Anonymous said...

You are superwoman. I don't even remember what I was able to accomplish with 2 children, but I'm jealous of the energy you seem to have, especially with a husband who's as good as out of town. James was home all weekend and we were snowed in and we didn't seem to accomplish all together what you did on your own. Sorry the open house wasn't bigger.

Jen said...

Carrie - I am motivated! I need this house to sell...quick. We can't buy a house in Vegas until we sell this one, and we won't know what we can even really AFFORD there until we have a buyer here.

Also, I am exhausted now, and have plans to take a nap any minute. =)

Elizabeth said...

How on earth . . . ?????

You amaze me.

P.S. Want pictures of no bars. Not that you have anything else to do or anything.

Elizabeth said...

P.S. We had multiple open houses when no one came. And it seemed only our neighbors took those flyers. And the market sucked. And it still sold. Yours will, too.

Katie said...

Ahhhhhhh mountains. You are so lucky!!

Our neighbors are selling their house here and they say their realtor won't even DO open houses anymore. WHAT THE HELL? I guess the realtors are just GIVING UP or something....

I can't believe all that work you did. You are amazing!