[Sylvaa] Channels Her Inner Santa

[Ann of Owlshire]

On 6/20/2020 at 4:16 PM, GoodDoug said:

Getting the house ready to sell is always interesting: "Hey, this house looks pretty great now! Why don't we just stay?"

 

I’ve been saying... “man, we’re doing all the things we were supposed to be doing anyway....” XD We opted not to paint or renovate the 80s kitchen though, figuring we’d let the new owners decide how they want to go with it. Our next door neighbour bought hers with a brand new, flashy kitchen... that she hates... but can’t justify replacing because it was part of the purchase price and would be a waste XD 

[Sylvaa]

4 hours ago, Ann of Vries said:

 

I’ve been saying... “man, we’re doing all the things we were supposed to be doing anyway....” XD We opted not to paint or renovate the 80s kitchen though, figuring we’d let the new owners decide how they want to go with it. Our next door neighbour bought hers with a brand new, flashy kitchen... that she hates... but can’t justify replacing because it was part of the purchase price and would be a waste XD 

 

Yeah, we finally took off the wallpaper in our half bathroom last weekend. We knew when we bought the house there were a number of small things like that we needed to complete, but we'd been putting them off. We've updated our appliances (because we needed to), but other than that, we are keeping the kitchen as is for the same reason. It's not a horrible kitchen, but it doesn't have updated cabinets or counters. We talked to our realtor about a number of things like that and she said it wouldn't increase the cost enough to justify the work.

 

On 6/20/2020 at 11:16 AM, GoodDoug said:

Getting the house ready to sell is always interesting: "Hey, this house looks pretty great now! Why don't we just stay?"

 

We actually knew when we moved in that this wasn't our "forever home". Initially, we were looking at moving to a completely different area of the country after the kids graduated from high school (so like in the next two or so years), but we've had some life changes where we are looking at staying in the current area for longer than anticipated. So now we are looking at moving to a longer-term house sooner than anticipated.

 

Do I have an update?

• Still working through the daily workout. Still not running. My days are ridiculously busy and I've been taking the baby in the early morning (versus running). I've got an hour between 3 and 4 today that I might try to get a run in.
• We've taken over a number of boxes for a yard sale at my in-law's and helped them clean out part of their tan shed
  • This included finding my FIL's VHS porn collection and my BIL's bongs. So help us all.
• I'm halfway through cleaning out my bookshelf to make it look less personal and more inviting from a home perspective. I've still got a few shelves to work through, but overall, it looks less crowded and messy.
  • The books we are keeping are going to my in-laws to be stored while we try to sell.

[Snarkyfishguts]

oh  sweet baby Jesus...finding a relative's "Secret" collection of things is awful. I've always been fortunate enough that the person who owns the items is dead by the time I'm cleaning out their spaces. So I never have to look them in the eye afterwards and be like "really? There's a LOT of pizza delivery themes here."

 

You have all my sympathy. Go straight to Go and collect 200 dollars. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ann of Owlshire]

1 hour ago, Sylvaa said:

This included finding my FIL's VHS porn collection and my BIL's bongs. So help us all.

 

Cleaning out my Dad’s house (who is still alive) was awkward. I think my late ex-partner’s parents found going through some of his stuff awkward, too, and gave some things back to me like somehow I was the reason he read pervy manga  I think they just couldn’t cope with the idea that it had belonged to their sweet “innocent” son so they gave it to me to dispose of. 

[Ann of Owlshire]

1 hour ago, Sylvaa said:

We actually knew when we moved in that this wasn't our "forever home

 

Same for our current place. We came here only planning to stay for 2 years before selling it (Mr has owned it for 18 years but has only lived in it here and there for about 10 of that–it’s been a rental much of the time) and originally planning buying a house back in Seattle, and then when we decided to stay in the UK, wherever we decided to live over here. It’s been almost 5 years, but hey... we’re making progress now XD 

[Stronkey Kong]

On 6/24/2020 at 11:18 AM, Sylvaa said:

 

• • This included finding my FIL's VHS porn collection and my BIL's bongs. So help us all.

 

Unless it was homemade footage... I'm not terribly impressed.

 

VHS! VHS! -- Trivia time. Rattle off some titles and we can guess what era it's from based on spoofs of movie/TV titles... or if he's really a connoiseur, political scandals and current events.

[Sylvaa]

On 6/27/2020 at 9:51 PM, Chris Tarly said:

 

Unless it was homemade footage... I'm not terribly impressed.

 

VHS! VHS! -- Trivia time. Rattle off some titles and we can guess what era it's from based on spoofs of movie/TV titles... or if he's really a connoiseur, political scandals and current events.

 

Okay, so they were in nondescript VHS sleeves. I missed the majority of the titles (many appeared hand recorded from the Playboy channel). So I've got very little information for you. I'm sorry. I'm not going to try to do better. 

 

Update:

• Waking up at the first alarm has been going really well. I've even actually started brushing my teeth before my second alarm goes off. I'm not really using the time well yet, but darn it, I'm still up. 
• My planner is definitely getting a workout and it is helping me to become more organized. I need more hours in the day, but I'm sure we'll get there eventually.
• We had the meet and greet with the dog sitter for vacation. We really liked her and the puppy seemed content over there, so we are set. We've decided that even if vacation gets cancelled, we are still going to take her over for the week to help with potential walk throughs. 
• Holy crap we've done a lot of moving, cleaning, and organizing. We aren't done yet, but there is definite improvement in areas of the house
  • We've also almost finished the downstairs bathroom. It should be completed no later than tomorrow!
• Each kid is responsible for at least two daily tasks to help with getting the house ready to sell. They aren't super happy about it, but they are doing it. The list is long, but growing shorter. 
• I've been working out daily and I did run at least one day every week. 
  • I'm going back to my old routine, which I like better and works for me more, so that starts up today. 
  • My daughter wants to do a 2 week ab program, so we are also supposed to be starting that today

[Sylvaa]

 

[Sciread77]

On 6/24/2020 at 3:48 AM, Ann of Vries said:

 

I’ve been saying... “man, we’re doing all the things we were supposed to be doing anyway....” XD We opted not to paint or renovate the 80s kitchen though, figuring we’d let the new owners decide how they want to go with it. Our next door neighbour bought hers with a brand new, flashy kitchen... that she hates... but can’t justify replacing because it was part of the purchase price and would be a waste XD 

We only remodeled what we had to in order to sell our house. But it nearly killed us, especially me. Normally I like remodeling but not to sell a house I’m living in!

 

If your area is anything like ours, it’s a good sign. Our neighbors sold their house in 2-3 days for nearly what Jessie and I paid for ours 2 years ago, and ours is a bigger, more updated house on a larger, more usable parcel of land. I’m hearing that the pandemic is keeping most homeowners where they are and driving up the prices. 
 

21 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

Waking up at the first alarm has been going really well. I've even actually started brushing my teeth before my second alarm goes off. I'm not really using the time well yet, but darn it, I'm still up. 

Actually getting up on the first alarm is at least half the battle!

[Ann of Owlshire]

1 minute ago, Sciread77 said:

We only remodeled what we had to in order to sell our house. But it nearly killed us, especially me

 

This is how I’m currently feeling about cleaning/tidying the house for viewings. And Mr is like “I love the house looking like this! We should have it look like this all the time!” and I said “get rid of half your things and hire a full time cleaner and it might.”

 

At the moment I want the house to sell not just so we can move, but so I can stop trying to keep the house in a state that is not actually sustainable 

[Sciread77]

19 minutes ago, Ann of Vries said:

 

This is how I’m currently feeling about cleaning/tidying the house for viewings. And Mr is like “I love the house looking like this! We should have it look like this all the time!” and I said “get rid of half your things and hire a full time cleaner and it might.”

 

At the moment I want the house to sell not just so we can move, but so I can stop trying to keep the house in a state that is not actually sustainable 

I hear you. We remodeled almost the entire house. Everything except the kids’ rooms, because it wouldn’t sell otherwise. 
 

Keeping a house show-ready is horrible. Especially with little ones. 

[Sylvaa]

Quick Update:

 

We aren't going on vacation anymore (well, not as a family). While travel isn't restricted, PA has put in place a voluntary quarantine for PA residents traveling down to FL. So my husband (who is the only person in the family who HAS to leave the house for work) won't be going. The girls and the baby are still most likely going (they are going to be driving down instead of flying) and we will take airline credits for now until we can fly down as a family. 

[Sciread77]

5 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

Quick Update:

 

We aren't going on vacation anymore (well, not as a family). While travel isn't restricted, PA has put in place a voluntary quarantine for PA residents traveling down to FL. So my husband (who is the only person in the family who HAS to leave the house for work) won't be going. The girls and the baby are still most likely going (they are going to be driving down instead of flying) and we will take airline credits for now until we can fly down as a family. 

I am relieved after the recent numbers. I’m sorry you had to scratch most of your vacation plans though. 

[RES]

FL numbers are out of control right now

[Sylvaa]

On 7/3/2020 at 10:02 PM, Sciread77 said:

I am relieved after the recent numbers. I’m sorry you had to scratch most of your vacation plans though. 

 

13 hours ago, RES said:

FL numbers are out of control right now

 

Yeah, I'm not really upset about it due to *gestures wildly*. But a vacation away from the house (which, coincidentally, looks like a different house now) would have been nice. The girls and the baby left last night around 7 pm and are due to get to my parents in another hour. They drove down, which made for a long night for me, but they were in good spirits when I talked to them at 8. We got to spend most of yesterday with the baby so that my daughter (who was doing most of the driving) could sleep.

 

Tomorrow we are having pictures taken to list the house. I am very excited, but also very nervous. 

[Sylvaa]

I should probably give an actual update:

• Morning routine is getting much better. Most days, I've even got my teeth brushed before my second alarm. It's a miracle really. 
• My planner use is one area that is probably the most improved. I've even started scheduling tasks in advance to make sure that I get them done. It's still not perfect, I need a good plan for when I don't complete everything I should in the required time frame, but it's definitely a work in progress. 
• We've completed all major necessary tasks. There are a few things on our list that are contingent things (i.e. certain types of loans might require us to add an additional banister onto our basement steps), but the things that we needed to do to make our house pretty are completed. 
• Pictures are scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. We've moved a bunch of furniture around and it's kind of amazing how much bigger certain rooms in our house look.
  • The whole idea of house space kind of makes me laugh a bit. I know that from a rest of the world perspective, Americans are all about more space in their homes. Our current house isn't huge, but it's also not small. We have about 2000 sq ft (which doesn't include the basement, because rules) and we are looking at houses that are between 500 - 1000 sq ft larger. But it's really not going to be that much larger than what we have because we'll be adding most of that space in bedrooms. 
• I've made two trips to my in-laws already with things for the yard sale / trash (they have a dumpster) and I'll be making two more trips between today and tomorrow. I'm not a hoarder by any stretch of the imagination, but it is RIDICULOUS how much stuff we can amass. Our trash can has been full to the brim for the past month and we've utilized the in-laws. And we don't have all that much "extra" stuff. 
  • I also got most of my drawers cleaned out for yard sale stuff. I got rid of a lot of pants that are just too big, which is fun, but now I also need to go shopping.
• The dog is still going to the sitters for next week. I'm very excited as I'm hoping we'll have lots of showings while she isn't here AND it'll cut down on hair. 
• I've transitioned back to my previous workout plan and it makes me very happy. The daily thing was fun, but I'm not good at prioritizing the best time and it was hard to do this around the baby. 
  • I did to the Spartan Virtual Super on Saturday and it was hot. 

[Snarkyfishguts]

I agree we as Americans want a lot more space. But I think in pandemic times, a little more space is wonderful! after reading your post, I have a powerful urge to clean out my closet  

[cracked_belle]

On 7/6/2020 at 9:29 AM, Sylvaa said:

• I've made two trips to my in-laws already with things for the yard sale / trash (they have a dumpster) and I'll be making two more trips between today and tomorrow. I'm not a hoarder by any stretch of the imagination, but it is RIDICULOUS how much stuff we can amass. Our trash can has been full to the brim for the past month and we've utilized the in-laws. And we don't have all that much "extra" stuff. 

every time I move, anyone who helps is surprise by how much crap I have.  making a lot of stuff fit into a small space is a super power I have.  it's a blessing and a curse, though.  when moving, it's a freakin' retroactive curse!

[Sylvaa]

20 hours ago, cracked_belle said:

every time I move, anyone who helps is surprise by how much crap I have.  making a lot of stuff fit into a small space is a super power I have.  it's a blessing and a curse, though.  when moving, it's a freakin' retroactive curse!

 

I guess we are probably lucky we don't have more stuff! My family in general is good at, "we don't use this, but we might later" and then just keeping things. And because we have the space for it, stuff stays. The nice thing about moving is it does give you the reason to go through things. 

 

Pictures went off without too much of a fuss. We should have them back later today or tomorrow. Friday we are signing the rest of the paperwork and listing the house. I have all the silly cleaning to do (i.e. baseboards) over the next few days to be prepared. I'll be super excited once it sells, just because it'll be so much easier to just have to pack up!

 

Last night, the fire alarm in our bedroom went off at 2am. That is literally the worst way to wake up, ever. My husband and the boys went outside to make sure there wasn't any smoke anywhere (there wasn't), but it took forever to stop my heart from racing. In reality, it appears to have been the alarms way of telling us the battery was dying. I feel like there were better ways to let us know, but I could be wrong. 

[Ann of Owlshire]

On 7/6/2020 at 3:29 PM, Sylvaa said:

I know that from a rest of the world perspective, Americans are all about more space in their homes.

 

Before my status-obsessed Americanized mother came to visit me in the UK, I kept going on to her about how tiny our house was so that when she got here she might be surprised by its spaciousness. It’s a pretty generous sized house by inner London standards (I think it’s 1400 sq ft with the garage?), but would be considered a closet by US suburban standards. The place we’re buying is considerably bigger (but more importantly it has a floor plan that allows us to have a hobby area kept separate from a toddler-friendly living area). 

 

Good luck with photos. I recommend having something like an empty laundry basket to throw items into as no matter how much you think you’ve decluttered the photographer will want you to remove even more XD 

 

 

 

 

[Snarkyfishguts]

Fire alarms are wretched when they go off like that. I’m glad it was just a battery! They can use the new battery to start your heart back up!

 

My mom and I help each other sort out stuff. Like “will I just replace this?” And if its yes, then it stays. But if we look at our fondue oots and realize we havent used them in ten years, maybe that can go. It’s really kinda fun, like taking a personality quiz but with your stuff. “I used to be a total fondue person, but now I’m really more of a casserole person”

 

personality type:

Charging cables/Books/yarn/towels

💙😂

 

 

 

 

[Sylvaa]

1 minute ago, Ann of Vries said:

Good luck with photos. I recommend having something like an empty laundry basket to throw items into as no matter how much you think you’ve decluttered the photographer will want you to remove even more XD 

 

We had plastic bins available and it was super helpful! (they are remnants from when the kids were younger - each had a color coded bin for their shoes and backpacks) We'd actually already gone through and packed up a bunch of boxes, so it was mainly moving the large boxes versus individual pieces, which made it go a lot quicker. 

 

I am kind of obsessed with watching House Hunters International. I'm not sure how great of a gauge it is on the size of houses throughout the world, but as a general rule, they are fairly smaller than traditional US Suburb housing. So I kind of hear you on getting someone used to US space prepared for non-US space. As a side note, this has also spoiled me for traditional US home builds. 

 

5 minutes ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

personality type:

Charging cables/Books/yarn/towels

 

I am totally a book/puzzle/cooking gadget! 🤣

[Ann of Owlshire]

18 minutes ago, Sylvaa said:

We had plastic bins available and it was super helpful!

 

Ah! I didn’t see the date on that post >_>;

 

Oh yes, our current house is smaller than any of the houses (but not apartments) I lived in in the States. I would describe the place we’re trying to buy as “American sized” XD We wanted space for us, more children (if we are so lucky), our space-hogging hobbies, and guests to come stay. (If we don’t have more children, then we can have more guests, I guess >_>)

[Sylvaa]

Guys - my house is on the market! I'm going to spoiler if anyone wants to see (because I am nosy and would totally want to). Not trying to sell it here because obviously you all aren't moving to South Central PA, but yay!

Spoiler

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3459-Church-St-Chambersburg-PA-17202/78637676_zpid/?

 

Also, I'm so tired. We cleaned the most ridiculous things today. Like baseboards.

[fleaball]

My key takeaway: we can still be friends because you guys hang your toilet paper the right way.