MSB {32}: My Sunday House Best

Time for my weekly blog post!  I’m only mostly kidding.  I did post earlier this week about the ongoing crisis we face with Cee’s medication.  So it’s not the only only post this week.

Quickety quick here’s my Mass summary.  Obligatory outfit picture and house stuffs to follow.

Highlight:  Bea helping herself as the collection basket was passed.  “Don’t mind if I do!” was the look on her face as she scooped up another parishoner’s envelope.  She was indignant when we made her put it back in the basket.

Lowlight:  Moe turning from “average four year old boy” to “loud writhing monster” suddenly at the most quiet and intense part of Mass.

Can’t say I’m terribly surprised, though.  It’s been a week.

It’s been a week, guys.

Our first house showings were scheduled for Saturday, June 10th.  We stuck a for sale sign in our yard on May 28th-ish.  That meant we’ve spent every minute of every day from the 28th-ish to the 9th in Hyper Super Ultimate Prep mode.

Here’s what we did:

-We had the carpets professionally cleaned.  I don’t want to be sacrilegious, but Completely Clean worked miracles in our house.  Our “experienced,” “seasoned,” “mature” carpet now looks like she’s still got lots of good years left in her.  Highly recommend.

-We hauled out half our furniture.  My mom originally gave us the HGTV tip of removing one piece of furniture from every room.  Instead we removed half the furniture.  We’ve been blessed with a lot of hand-me-downs, and although the price is right, none of it read “classy.”  (David was saddest to part with the recliner we picked up off the curb a few years ago for frizzle.  It was worn-slipper comfortable, and its only flaw was a hole  where the previous owner’s head must have rested.  David cut up some old jeans and secured a denim patch on the leather using Gorilla Glue.  It was perfect for watching a family movie.  See what I mean about “classy?”)

– We borrowed nice looking things.

This is my house.  These are not my things.  Don’t they look lovely?!?!

I think this is how people with nice things sit.  I wouldn’t know.  It’s just a guess.

(I’m wearing Lands’ End everything as I gaze off and try to look posh.)

-Some things we gave away, some we threw away, and some we moved to storage.  90% of all our books went in to storage.  A friend mentioned that one shelf of books is five boxes, and it is absolutely true.  I jokingly wrote “Book Box 1 of 179” on a box of books we shipped of to our storage unit.

-We scrubbed all the surfaces ever.

-We moved the rocks we inherited from my brother around in our landscaping so they formed a border instead of a random pile that’s been sitting in the front of our house for a year.

-We had the exterior of the house painted and the decks stained.

-We planted flowers.

-We painted inside.

-We had our compost pile (four pallets nailed together filled with all our fruit/veggie garbage) taken down.  My poor dad should get a medal for the smells he smelled…

-We found and reattached all the white plastic nubbins we had confiscated from the door stops around the house because the babies kept taking them off.  Maybe we’re past the choking hazard stage now?

-I took down all the kid art school type stuff we had painter taped to all the surfaces of our dining room.

-I cried for a while about having taken down all the kid arty school type stuff we had painter taped to all the surfaces of our dining room.

So.  Many.  Other.  Things.

David’s parents and my parents have donated many much hours to helping us get show ready.

Maybe now is an okay time spam you with all our house pictures?  Is it creepy that I like peeking into other people’s houses?  Okay, not like that.  That’s definitely creepy.  But in a HGTV sort of way.  Maybe you like non-creepy peeking, too?

At any rate, here are a couple shots of My Sunday House Best.

In taking this picture for our Zillow listing,  I realized how difficult it is to get any worthwhile pictures.  Maybe it’s because I don’t have a wide angle lens?  You should have seen the weird perching and leaning I did to try to get some halfway decent shots.

Contrary to all the real estate advice, we left our giant statue of Mary in the corner.  Note the tennis ball-ed chairs.

Kitchen-ness!  It’s never looked so good.  Can you find Mary #2?

 

All the dumb bathroom pictures had me showing up with a camera in the mirror.  So I never did get a picture of the whole vanity/mirror/toilet.  Now I have to confess that we buy two kinds of toilet paper.  The goooood kind for our bathroom and the see-through kind for the kids.  That’s the good kind, right there.  You buy my house, I’ll throw in a couple rolls of the good stuff.

Recognize that pianner from all the pictures of My Sunday Best Past?!?!

 

It’s like we spent the last two weeks in makeover mode.  We’re living the house version of The Princess Diaries!  It’s the same house, just with straighter teeth and less frizz.  I don’t feel like it was tricksy or dishonest to pack up lots of clutter and give the cupboards a nice once-over.  Our house is well-built in a lovely neighborhood.  It has great features.  We didn’t want that to get lost behind crayon marks on the floor or duct-taped couches, though.  Really we gave the house a little lipstick and a new dress before the big ball.

But– I don’t think we’ll have to keep up this level of perfection for long.  After this week we probably won’t be doing any showings.  We’ll wait until after our last showing on Monday accept any offers on the table.  (Yes!!!)

Anni at A Beautiful Camouflaged Mess of a Life has been working lately on cultivating gratitude for the little things in life.  After our showings were finished yesterday, I took a moment to look at my kids, really look at my kids for the first time in two weeks.  And I was hit with a wall of gratitude for them.  They are good kids.  Today, I’m am grateful for my babies.  (I’ve taken to calling them “babies,” which is weird because none of them are infants.  I think they know it’s a joke because I say things like “Let’s go, BAY-ee-bees!” when we’re leaving or “BAY-ee-bees! Time to eat!”

The kids have been left to entertain themselves far too much in all the preparation lately.  I’m looking forward to spending time reconnecting with the babies this upcoming week.   Summer, here we come!

 

 

Visit Rosie for less house-ish My Sunday Best.  🙂

 

 

 

*This post contains affiliate links.

12 Comments


  1. // Reply

    I love the Gratitude angle this week!! I have found, by being more intentional throughout my week – trying to find something every day, I have found I am “really looking” at everything more. Much like, I suspect, you did with your kiddos. Thank you so much for linking up with The Gratitude Project! I am thrilled to have you on board with that!

    Also, your house looks beautiful and spectacular!! I am already resisting the idea of “removing all Catholic items” from the walls for renting and potentially selling. I loved your Sunday Best look – those colors just make each other pop in such a beautiful manner.

    Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. Prayers that your home sells to another wonderful family, and you’re able to move smoothly!!


  2. // Reply

    I like yours and your House’s Sunday Best! That HGTV trick is a good one but it’s funny to me that when you do it, the room may look better but then you can’t really live in it the same way. (or maybe you find out that you can, in which case, more power to ya!) Why that should be, I don’t know.
    Either way, thanks for the peak into your home! I enjoyed it, in a hopefully non-creepy way ?


    1. // Reply

      In a lot of ways it’s easier to live without all the stuff. We’ll see how long that lasts, though. 🙂


  3. // Reply

    Wow! Your kitchen does look awesome!!! It’s kinda amazing how removing all the homeschool, planning, stickies and “mommas office” type stuff actually make a kitchen and dining room seem so kitcheny and dining roomy. Are you eating take-out every night to keep it looking like that? ? Or are you tempted to bake? Or try some new culinary skill? Clean counters are dangerous in the way that they make me want to use them and mess them up.
    It sounds like you’ve been hard at it. It looks great. Also- I tend to think that leaving up a few religious articles can only help a Catholic during this time. They can serve as the much needed inspiration to grow in the many paths of virtue during the crazy house selling time and be a reminder to always keep trusting in God that His plan for us is true and good.


    1. // Reply

      Thanks! It’s been a lot of hot dogs and applesauce, actually. 🙂 It’s so much easier to maintain the clean. Hopefully this is the start of good things!


  4. // Reply

    Oh listing a house for sale — I do not want to repeat that again.
    reading this brought back ALL THE MEMORIES. the purging, the packing, the attempt at decluttering.
    for our professional photos, we were still in the process of packing and purging — we left some of our fam photos up (oops) and I don’t remember putting the crucifixes away.

    but once we had our showings — the personal stuff were put away.
    don’t forget to bury St. joseph!


  5. // Reply

    This was great! I love the way you’re sitting with those “nice things” … Too funny! Your house looks amazing, you really did a great job with the furniture arrangement. And the part about the collection basket during Mass? I’m cracking up!!!


  6. // Reply

    I love the picture of you sitting in the chair. I think you nailed it! Praying for you as you work through the process of selling and buying a home.


  7. // Reply

    So much going on! Our daughter once tried to take from the collection basket too, LOL!

    Your house looks lovely, and I hope selling goes well. Good for you keeping your statues!

    Prayers to St. Joseph and all the best!


  8. // Reply

    I hope you guys are out of the stressful part of selling soon!!

    We had an awkward moment when John Paul spent a good 30 seconds fishing around for money in my purse while the usher stood there wondering if he should move on or but… But he waited and got a whole quarter ?


  9. // Reply

    I love how you’ve staged your home! It looks lovely, and it’s quite admirable for managing that with four kiddos.


  10. // Reply

    You stored and borrowed furniture!? You put me to shame. I mean, I’ve done so. much. stuff, but not that. My sons’ broken dresser is still there, looking very, very unclassy.

    I bet yours will sell in a flash, it looks great!

Leave a Reply to Sarah Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *