A Reprieve.

Having the cement crew leave and being in a bit of a holding pattern waiting on the well to be dug gave me a much-needed reprieve from being up at the property every day. A reprieve during which I could attack the pigsty that our current home had become, that is! So, Wednesday and Thursday (the 20th and 21st) were pretty much given over to laundry, ironing, dishes, errands, and a little glorious sleeping-in in the mornings. And, Tom came home from work in the Cities Thursday night with the new generator in tow!

We expected that Friday and the weekend would bring more opportunities for catch-up, but an early Friday morning phone call derailed those plans. A local couple, who we know slightly, heard that we were building a new house and could they come look at this one to possibly buy? Gulp! After a bit of friendly haggling regarding when they could come out (he wanted Saturday morning, I wanted the next week!), we set the appointment for Sunday, the 24th, at 2:00 p.m. Mayhem ensued. For 48 hours, Tom and I hit this house like never before! The lawn was mowed and weed-whipped, the chicken house was given a quick going-over. Saws whined, Tom's hammer flew, and he had the ceiling finished in the bathroom in no time. We cleaned the house from top to bottom. And, we finished at 1:30 on Sunday - in just enough time for me to make us sandwiches so that we could actually get enough food into our systems to be able to think on our feet when the prospective buyers arrived.

Meanwhile, Tom still hadn't seen the house slab. So, we did take a quick break at 6:00 p.m. Friday night and drove up. We sat on the slab and had a celebratory bottle of wine. Tom had a "it's really gonna happen" smile on his face when he marveled, "I'm actually sitting on the floor of our living room!"

Sunday afternoon was given over to "selling" our 3.57 acres and little home here. The meeting went terrifically well, and it was obvious how interested they were. We gave them our asking price, and we knew they would counter-offer. They made sure to ask if we would be around this week, and so Tom and I took bets on how soon they'd call they seemed so eager! I won the bet, guessing they'd call on Wednesday (Monday being too soon, and them knowing that I'd be gone into the city on Tuesday). So, sure enough, when I got in from chores Wednesday morning, I'd missed their call, but they'd left a message on the answering machine. "Thank you SO much for showing us your beautiful home, but we're just not interested." HUH? Exsqueeze me?

So, who the heck knows what happened there (!), but the whole experience did result in two major benefits. 1) The house is CLEAN! Now if we can only keep it that way! 2) I realized that it was not as big, scary, and stressful as I'd expected to possibly (try to) sell the house this fall. I'd previously been thinking that it was just one more thing I didn't want to have to deal with until we were into the new house. But now, I think we'll pursue getting it out into the real estate market. Stay tuned for that!

Unfortunately, in the middle of all the excitement, Tom was called back down to work on Monday. After my folks met us up at the property to help unload the new generator, he left late Monday night but was able to return late last night. Just a quick trip, but a long, exhausting one!

Now I am trying to take advantage of this "quiet time" (relatively speaking) at home to bang out what needs to be done ASAP on the house. Windows and doors and SIPs need to be ordered.

Happily, I've been able to finally catch up on my postings here. We're up-to-date, and I'll do my best to see that things stay that way! Off to clean the day's eggs and then to bed. 'Nite!