Looking forward

Welcome to the week after July 4 (otherwise known as "Buy My House Week"). I hope everyone had a safe and exciting holiday, and incinerated many a sparkler!

My daughter's cast came off today - huzzah! - and we spent the evening at the pool. She couldn't wait to do a zillion handstands, dive for toys, and hurtle down the fabulously exciting tube slides. I practically had to drag them away for dinner. Food is typically a powerful motivator for my people; they like to eat. But tonight, they didn't care.

Today is Tuesday, and the house had two visitors. We also have an open house scheduled for this Sunday. Come one, come all! Bring a friend! Buy them a townhouse.

Foiled by our nation's birthday

I have a (rather weak) complaint I'd like to lodge.

Independence Day is foiling our house selling attempts. Don't these city-fleeing vacationers know how excited we are to close up shop and hit the road for Beantown? Yet I suppose the beach has a stronger pull than wandering from town to town scoping out prospective houses.

Sigh. I shall strive to drown my sorrows in burgers, watermelon, and grapefruit soda (with perhaps a touch of vodka for posterity).

Hiding from your house

The house is on the market! The house is on the market!

This is a true harbinger of our move to Boston to launch Mayhew Life, v2.0. We look forward to a rapid sale, and in the meantime we spent the weekend avoiding our own home. It's one of the less savory features of selling your place: leave out no dirty dish, upend no towels, dust for crumbs, and for heaven's sake, don't muss the perfectly placed accent pillows.

If only my eldest didn't have a cast on her arm; we'd spend the days lounging poolside. Instead, the house is on the market and we are in hiding. We are fabricating places to hang out. Today we spent three hours following the gray brick road of our local IKEA before reclining in the Barnes & Noble kids' section until feeding time.

I ended up buying funky Euro lamps for the girls' rooms, and a bunch of books I will have to pay to move north.

Too many weekends like this could be a hazard to my wallet.

Sparkly, sparkly!

Two lovely women from Regal Maids (www.regalmaids.com) swooped in this afternoon and spiffed up the homestead. The floors are so shiny they squeak, and it looks very pretty in here. 

I enjoy pampering this house for its future owners. After all, our two kids will forever remember 2080 Capstone Circle as their first home. There will tears, indeed, when we finish packing and set sail for Boston.

This is the perfect first house for a young family... maybe unless you have triplets. Then you'd need to move post haste, like our former neighbors. When the husband told me they were pregnant with trips - and that they were all boys - I said, "So... when are you moving?" He looked at me, baffled, and said, "Oh, probably when they're two." I am sure my "uh, yeah, right buddy" look was entirely too transparent.

They moved when the boys were six months old. In other words, pre-ambulatory, before the real fun begins.

My girls learned to walk here. Play here. Cause trouble here. And now they take those well-honed skills to Massachusetts, where fall leaves flutter, winter snows blow, and the Red Sox crash and burn every October. Sometimes earlier.

The sign is up!

Ooo la la! So exciting!

I will add a photo taken in full sun later today, providing I don't melt into a pile of squishy humanness in the scorching summer heat...

The sign is in place! Things are happening!

24 hours until showtime!!

I have butterflies! In my stomach... not in the townhouse. Tomorrow night our fabulous townhouse in Herndon goes LIVE. Beginning Friday morning, troops of curious humans will begin marching through our house, and I hope they love what they see!

Fresh paint throughout, new carpet ditto, new stainless appliances (which I am totally enjoying, btw), plus new paint outside. It is looking snazzy!!