I Have My Limits

In the process of putting our house on the market, our real estate agent sent out a "Stager" to take pictures of our house and put together a list of things we can do to help our house show better and hopefully sell faster.  You have probably seen these people on TV, and as you watched them you said to yourself, "Really?  They want them [sellers] to do that to their house?"  Well, it is true.  Those people exist and they DO want you to do THAT to your house. In all, the list of things that were "recommended" we do to our house would take about $5000.00 and 3-4 months.....neither of which I have.  I did learn that (according to my real estate agent) only 10% of people can "see past paint", meaning they can understand that when they buy the house they can repaint and they can even possibly visualize what the room would look like in a different color.  This means that the other 90% of people looking at houses are, in my mind, stupid.  By the way I don't really think that 90% of people are stupid which is my point.  I mean if you can't walk into a room that is bright pink and understand that you have the ability to repaint it brown or green or bright yellow or whatever color you choose then you are, should I say, narrow minded. After being irritated and complaining alot last night, I called my MIL to complain this morning.  She is always willing to listen if I need to vent ,and she always has good advice to follow up with. I went through my tirade of things I am NOT going to do (remove 2 chairs from my dining room table making it possibly SHOW better but leaving one of my children chairless during meals--how does this even make sense to a sane person?--, repainting almost every room in my house, and my favorite---removing "most" of the books from my bookshelf.  What does that mean exactly, and WHY would I REMOVE books from a bookshelf?), then I listed the things I will think about doing (taking down posters and pictures from the walls in my kids' bedrooms--once again possibly making it show better but leaving my kids feeling out of place in their own rooms, rearranging some of the portraits on our walls, building a shelving system in the master bath), and finally made it to the things I will do (pack up some unnecessary objects that make the house look cluttered, clean everything, paint the handrail to the staircase and buy tiebacks for the curtains in the front room).  WOW! I feel even better having written it all down for you to read as well! There were a LOT more things that were recommended for us to do that also cost a LOT more money, but I won't list them all.  It just boggles my mind that some people spend so much money on their house just to sell it. The reason I am selling it is because I don't have any money! HELLO!

So, when I was finished talking Annalisa asked me if she could talk to Nana. She loves any phone conversations, especially with Nana!  I could hear her telling Nana all kinds of stuff, and I could barely hear Nana talking on the other end.  At one point Annalisa was telling her that she was knitting a hat and that she had made her daddy a pair of pajama pants. She clarified that she had made them, "with a tiny bit of help from my mom."  I think I heard Nana say something like, "Your mom is smart. She can do anything."  To which Annalisa promptly replied, "She can't walk on water.  She can't walk on a ceiling or jump up and touch the sky."  I was trying so hard not to die laughing because she was so serious and it had taken her no time at all to list the things I CAN'T do!  So, I do have my limits and even my kids know that!!