When I saw Crunchy Chicken’s latest challenge - Buy Nothing (with the exception of food, medications or other essentials) for the month of April - I said heck yeah, I am down with that! I’d actually been considering joining Mamas on The Compact for a two-month stint, but figured this would be a little bit easier and a good trial run for me since it’s just for a month. (And I’m a little chicken nervous about committing to longer than that, especially since summer is coming up and we might be planning a couple trips.)

Of course, wouldn’t you know it, the very first day (April 1st) I ran into a dilemma with the challenge. The kids and I went to pick up Jody from work and decided to go out to eat before heading home. But hmmm, is going out to eat allowed I wondered? It’s food, which is allowed, but the act of going out to eat does seem sort of extravagant. Too bad I didn’t have Crunchy Chicken on my speed dial. Decisions, decisions.

As luck would have it, the first two places we tried to go were closed anyway. The first was Alexander’s, my favorite healthy Mexican food place in Boulder, which has apparently gone out of business. :( What’s up with that?

Next we tried Heidi’s Brooklyn Deli because we had a coupon. We parked two blocks away, fed the meter, then walked over only to find a note on the door - “Closed at 3 p.m. today for company meeting.” On April Fool’s Day of all days. I thought it was a joke, but it wasn’t.

I decided the fates were conspiring against us and a dinner out was not in the card and was ready to just give up and head home when we passed a health-conscious restaurant called Turley’s that includes some local food and organics on their menu. I commanded Jody, “Just go to Turley’s,” and he did. :)

After all of that, I’d like to say that we had a nice, relaxing dinner, but in reality the kids were tired, Julian was not content to sit in a high chair, and the whole meal was very rushed (but tasty).

Feeling a bit guilty about my possible failure on the very first day, I sent Crunchy Chicken an email asking for clarification if going out to dinner counted as food or not. She said she was a little unsure about that herself, but basically concluded that it can be allowed but it depends on where you go, what you are eating and that no disposable packaging is involved. So, McDonald’s (eww anyway) - definitely a no. A restaurant with healthy food and no disposable takeout containers - OK. I can deal with that. I will confess that we brought home a small cardboard container on Tuesday, but I recycled it.

If you feel you are up to the challenge, you can still join. Head on over and sign up to Buy Nothing. If you absolutely need something non-edible or not essential to growing your own food or for your survival, you must acquire it by borrowing, bartering or buying it used. If you buy something new that is non-essential, Crunchy Chicken will have a Sunday Confessional post for everyone to spill the beans.

Good night and good luck. :)

Stumble it!

I confess. I watch Oprah sometimes - not religiously, but sometimes. I TIVO the show, then take a look at the description. If it looks interesting, I’ll watch it. If not, it gets deleted.

Yesterday’s topic du jour mentioned something about Lisa Ling investigating the lifestyle of “Freegans.” I had never heard of Freegans or Freeganism before, but I am a fan of Lisa Ling, (anyone remember her from “Channel One News” in high school?), so I decided to take a look to see what it was all about and I’m glad I did.

Freegans are “a grassroots subculture is made of people who have decided to live outside consumer society. Freegans say our culture’s emphasis on buying the newest products—and throwing away perfectly fine older things—is a waste of the world’s resources. Instead, they focus on buying less and use only what they need. One of the main ways freegans do this is by salvaging food and other goods from the trash.”

The focus of the episode was really on how much we as Americans consume and how much we waste. What and how much do we really need to live? What void are we trying to fill as we consume and consume? Will we ever be happy?

On this episode of Oprah, Lisa Ling followed around Madeline, who previously earned a 6-figure income before becoming a self-professed freegan, and others as they went on a “trash tour” in New York, exploring dumpsters at grocery stores and bakeries for salvageable food that had been tossed. The quantity of edible food was both remarkable and disturbing in that stores are letting so much go to waste. Some of the food was slightly past its sell-by date, some was getting close to the sell-by date, and there really was no explanation as to why some of the food was in the trash. There was produce, eggs, but also a lot of packaged food, still perfectly wrapped.

The food Madeline and the others find is far from gross. “‘It’s not toxic waste,’ she says. Much of the food is still in its original packaging and has been discarded largely for cosmetic reasons, not because of poor quality. She shows Lisa how cartons of eggs are regularly thrown away when there’s one broken egg—even though there are 11 perfectly good ones remaining. Fruit is often thrown away when it has only minor dents, she says.”

Official surveys indicate that every year more than 350 billion pounds of edible food is available for human consumption in the United States. Of that total, nearly 100 billion pounds - including fresh vegetables, fruits, milk, and grain products - are lost to waste by retailers, restaurants, and consumers.

Lisa and Oprah also talked with a newlywed couple, Daniel and Amanda - a doctor and civil engineer - who believe in freeganism as well. I read a bit on their blog last night. Good food for thought - pun intended. ;)

The show definitely got me thinking and I hope it did others as well. While I don’t know that I’m going to run out and go dumpster diving for my dinner tonight, I admit that the idea does have it’s merits, namely that by salvaging food from the dumpster you are keeping it out of the landfills. I do have my concerns regarding safety and whether or not it is legal. I noticed the people on Oprah did their dumpster diving in the dark. Is that because that’s when the food has freshly been tossed or is it because they shouldn’t be digging around in the dumpsters by law or both?

Ava watched some of the show with with me (I turned it off when it got to the part about the mom who works as a stripper to provide for her kids, not that I disagree necessarily, but I didn’t think it was appropriate for Ava to watch) and when I half-jokingly, half-seriously talked about going shopping for our groceries in the trash next time, she commented, “I don’t want to eat food out of the trash. That’s gross.” It spurred a good discussion between us where I pointed out that all of that perfectly edible food being wasted wasn’t good either.

Eating food found in dumpsters might be too extreme for most people, but the message from the show was clear, consumerism and excessive waste in this country is out of control and something needs to change.

So what do YOU think? Do you think Americans in general consume and waste too much? Would you ever consider eating food out of the trash?

If you are interested in doing further reading, I came across some other interesting articles on the subject.

• Lisa Ling’s blog post about Freegans and Waste
• Oprah, Lisa Ling and Freegans, Oh My!
• Freegans?
• Half of US Food goes to Waste
• Wasted Food: a look at how America squanders nearly half of its food
• Dumpster Diving: The Easiest Way to Find Free Food
• - Opposition -
  
• Freegan Travel: A Bad Idea
• Freeganism: What’s Up with That?

There’s also a site dedicated to Freeganism - Freegan.info - including a dumpster directory and a link to “find freegans near you.” It was down for a while after Oprah’s show aired, but it’s back online now.

Stumble it!

On Wednesday Jody and I got a surprise letter from the IRS, an early Valentine if you will, stating we owed $2,000 in back taxes from 2006. Isn’t that the sweetest thing?

Apparently we made an error in filing our 2006 taxes and failed to include some stocks Jody received through work. He was under the impression that taxes were already deducted; they were not. It was an honest mistake on our part, but a mistake nonetheless and the IRS has come a-knocking to claim what is theirs - with interest.

The shock of finding out we will need to part with $2,000 by March 15 has put a damper on the love-fest that should accompany Valentine’s day. Thankfully, we have the money to send, but it was earmarked for paying down debt and preschool tuition, and will pretty much wipe out our savings account.

I’m trying to take it all in stride, but it’s hard and I admit I’ve been in a funk most of the day. It messes with our short- (debt) and probably long-term (moving) goals, but I know we will make the money back eventually.

This has made me consider returning to photography, perhaps just for the spring and summer, when it’s optimal to work outside with natural light anyway. We shall see.

For now I’m going to try to forget about it for at least an hour while I go eat a brownie and watch LOST. So there. ;oP

Stumble it!

A while back I posted that I was trying to get our insurance company to acknowledge a claim for Julian’s home birth. I made phone call after phone call asking them if they had all of the information they needed to process the claim and each time, they would come back with one more thing that was still needed. I’d send them that “one thing” and then there’d be something else. It was always something.

I received an “explanation of benefits” in the mail from them a few months ago that said the claim had been closed because they hadn’t received everything they’d requested from me (BS!), and that they’d consider reopening it if the information was sent in. I threw up my hands in frustration and pretty much resigned myself to the thought that we would never get anything from them.

Then my midwife told me that she had contracted with a billing company and they could take over my case for me. So I sent them the information they required about two months ago and hadn’t heard a word from them until a couple weeks ago. Jody got a call saying that they needed the “explanation of benefits” that the insurance company sent to me and that they were “very optimistic” that we’d get some money from them.

I dug up that form and Jody faxed it in so now we wait and see. It would be awesome if they end up paying for part (or all!) of my midwife’s fees. Considering we paid $2200 for prenatal care, the birth and postnatal care, it would be a serious bargain for the insurance company. If I had had a hospital birth, which would have involved a c-section since Julian ended up being breech, it would have been tens of thousands of dollars and that’s just for the birth and not including the prenatal/postnatal care.

I’m not holding my breath, but I sure would love to see some of that money back in our pocket. :)

Stumble it!

I’ve happened upon quite a few deals the past couple of weeks and, being the benevolent person that I am, I thought it was only fair to share them with you, my awesome readers. :)

Last weekend Target had baby and toddler winter clothes on clearance from 30-75% off. I stocked up on some clothes for the kids for next winter, including a coat, two pairs of pants, and a jacket for Ava and four shirts and a pair of jeans for Julian. It’s hard to turn down shirts priced at $2-3! We also got $40 off this Baby Trend Sit-n-Stand stroller. From what I could see, many of their strollers were marked down.

Thanks to The Natural Mommy and one of her readers, I learned about Hot ‘n Ready pizzas from Little Caesar’s. You can get a large pizza (cheese or pepperoni) for just $5 any time. You just go in and the pizzas are uh, hot and ready. ;) Pair it with a salad and it makes a quick and cheap dinner on those nights you just don’t have the time or desire to cook. Wonder if they will give me some free pizzas after that glowing endorsement?

Mamanista currently has a contest going on for $100 to spend at Vincent Shoes. Well, I headed over there and was AMAZED at the winter sale they have going on. Several of their boots, shoes and indoor shoes (like slippers) are priced at 50-75% off. I bought four pairs of shoes for the kids yesterday - Dennis and Max for Julian and a pair of each of these Stripe indoor shoes for Ava and Julian - for $37 (plus shipping, it was $47). Not bad at all. By the way, the indoor shoes are perfect for Ava for inside time at her Waldorf preschool. All of the kids have to have a pair of inside shoes to keep at the school. At $6.25/pair, you can’t beat ‘em!

Lastly, over a week ago, Steve & Barry’s had a sale going on (and it might still be going on) where everything in the store was just $8.98 (or less). EVERYTHING. I got a pair of Sarah Jessica Parker’s new brand BITTEN jeans and they fit really well. I’m quite smitten with them. In fact, they were the jeans I was wearing when Julian’s yogurt explosion happened. And Jody, who had been rockin’ the two pairs of jeans he was down to and free “work” Google shirts a little too often lately, got two pairs of jeans and two shirts. All five items for just $48.50.

I’m not one to advocate consumer whorism, but if you need the items you might as well get good deals on them, right? ;)

Stumble it!

Today, Oct. 15, 2007, is Blog Action Day where I join over 15,000 other bloggers to write about the environment. I have chosen to write about ways to go green without breaking the bank.

The decision to go green is a wonderful one - both for you and your family and for the environment. However, it can be overwhelming at first, especially if you are living on a budget as most families are. Today I’m going to make some suggestions for ways you can become more environmentally-friendly without breaking the bank.

Something important to keep in mind is that going green is a work in progress. You don’t have to do everything today to make a difference. You can start by selecting one or two things and add onto it every week or month. Every little bit helps. By the end of a year, you’ll be amazed at all of the changes you’ve been able to make.
Here are just a few things to get you started to go green without spending a lot of money.

1. Make your own household cleaners. Vinegar and baking soda are two important ingredients for homemade cleaners. They are inexpensive and, chances are you already have both in the house! I found some great recipes here and here. Imagine how nice it will be to clean your bathroom with your kids nearby or in the same room without the fear of toxic fumes in the air. And you can breathe a sigh of relief when your teething toddler chomps down on your coffee table because you don’t have to guess what chemicals are on the table (and in her mouth) when you know it was cleaned naturally with olive oil and lemon juice. Not convinced that homemade products can cut the mustard? Here’s an interesting science project that compared the efficiency of both commercial and homemade cleaning products.
2. Unfortunately, along with better health for you, organic foods also tend to come with a heftier price tag than their conventional counterparts. However, the good news is that not all foods are horribly pesticide-laden. Get yourself a copy of the Organic Dirty Dozen, keep it in your purse or wallet and shop for organic foods accordingly. Here are the 12 most contaminated that you should buy organic if you can: • Apples • Bell Peppers • Celery • Cherries • Imported Grapes (from Chili) • Nectarines • Peaches • Pears • Potatoes • Red Raspberries • Spinach • Strawberries. On the flip side, here are the 12 least contaminated where buying organic isn’t as critical, especially if money is an issue: • Asparagus • Avocados • Bananas • Broccoli • Cauliflower • Corn (sweet) • Kiwi • Mangos • Onions • Papaya • Pineapples • Peas (sweet). Even better and cheaper than buying organic is to grow your own organic produce. Here’s more about which organic foods are worth the extra money.
3. Use reusable bags instead of plastic or paper bags at the grocery store and ALL stores. Stores like Vitamin Cottage, Whole Foods, Wild Oats, IKEA, Trader Joe’s and even Safeway are now selling reusable bags - some places for only $0.99 each. You can buy 6 for under $6 which should accommodate your groceries for the week. The bags are sturdy and hold a lot more than plastic bags do. You can also buy reusable bags at Reusablebags.com and 1 Bag at a Time. Unsure why plastic bags are so bad for the environment? Here’s a 10-minute film to enlighten you on the curse of plastic bags.
4. Unplug your appliances when you aren’t using them. Even if items are in the off position, they are still using energy. Unplugging doesn’t cost you a cent to do and will save you money!
5. RECYCLE your plastic, glass, aluminum and paper! Go to Earth911 and enter your zip code to find out what is recyclable in your area.
6. Shop at second-hand stores for clothing, etc., and donate, give or sell your old clothes, shoes, etc. to others. It is especially easy to buy gently used clothing and items for babies and toddlers. I just bought the kids some “new” (to them) clothes this weekend. They are cute, in good shape and very affordable. Again, this tip will save you money.
7. Change the light bulbs in your house to energy-efficient Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) - CFLs are four times more efficient and last up to 10 times longer than incandescents. They cost more upfront, but will save you money on your electricity bill almost immediately and they last from 8 to 10 years!

For even more tips on going green, please visit my Earth Day 2007 post.

While today is a special day to blog about the environment, you can be sure this is not my last post on the topic. There will be more from me in the months ahead as I learn more ways that I can do my part to help save the planet. :)

Lastly, I want to say congratulations to Al Gore for winning the Nobel Peace Prize. I hope this honor helps bring more immediate attention to the serious matter of global warming.

=============================================

Did you participate in Blog Action Day? Please sign Mr. Linky below with the link of your Blog Action Day post so that others can go read what you had to say about the environment. :)

Stumble it!

A little over a week ago, I wrote about our (then) upcoming two-hour preschool interview to find out if a home-based Waldorf-inspired preschool was a good fit for Ava and if Ava was a good fit for the preschool. It turns out the interview wasn’t nearly as daunting as I thought it would be. It mostly amounted to Jody and me talking about what a great kid Ava is (because she really is a great kid on most days - Saturday was not one of those days, but that’s neither here nor there).

We talked about my pregnancy with Ava, her birth, her early years (wait, she’s 3 - isn’t she still in her early years?), what life is like at our house, our discipline philosophy, how much TV she watches, what she likes to play with, etc. And we heard from the preschool teacher about the Waldorf philosophy*, her discipline practices (in a word - gentle), what forms we need to have filled out, teacher home visits, parent meeting nights and work days, festivals, the checklist for the first day of school, what their days consist of, safety and health info in the preschool handbook, what foods are off limits for lunches (no peanut butter since a boy who attends on the days opposite of Ava has a severe allergy and no sweets because it’s unWaldorfian - hehe, I just made that word up), her thoughts on TV/DVD watching (if it makes it’s way into the preschool repeatedly - like if Ava was always saying “let’s play ‘Annie’” - which she actually does with me sometimes oops! - and trying to coerce the kids into playing ‘Annie’ or some such thing - then we will have to cut back) and several other things.

We easily could have filled up more than two hours talking (I think we went slightly over two hours as it was), but I felt the need to get back home to my kids to make sure they weren’t running amok while Aunt Carrie watched the both of them together for the very first time. (All was well. They all did great! Julian was even sleeping when we got home.)

Jody and I feel this preschool is a great match for Ava and are sure she’s going to enjoy it and thrive being a part of this program. The teacher is so calm and nurturing and does very well with the children. I wish it didn’t cost an arm and a leg, but I guess, in this case, you get what you pay for. I started having a bit of anxiety right after we signed the contract signing Ava up for two mornings per week because I really am unsure how we are going to pay for it, but we will work something out. We have to. We’re in it for the school year now! ;)

Just this past Saturday we went back to the school for an open house/welcome to preschool tea. Unfortunately, we’d had a rough morning at our house so Ava wasn’t her usual self and got into a few squabbles with some of the kids over various toys, but overall it went well. We got to meet one of the other girls who will be attending on the same days as Ava, and we already know one of the boys who will be going with her as well from our AP group. We drank tea, ate scones, played in the yard (which has a great playhouse/castle thing, a big sandbox, jump ropes, watering cans, bubbles, balls and all of the chalk a 3-year-old could possibly need, as well as a burbling water fountain, flowers, and gnomes and fairies in the garden) and played in the house/preschool (which has some wonderful wooden toys, a little kitchen, little tables, play silks, dishes, soft dolls, cars, puzzles and all sorts of other neat stuff designed to spark the imagination).

Preschool for Ava begins on Thursday. :) We still need to go shopping for a few things for her to keep at the school - indoor shoes (different from the ones she will wear outside) and a sun hat (so we will have one for at home). We also have to put together a change of clothes and a sweater to leave at school, and of course her nutritious lunch (without sweets) which will go with her each day. :)

Speaking of lunch, I’m hungry I think I’m going to get her a new lunch box. (We had one for her summer camp at the farm, but I have grown tired of all of the waste involved.) I’ve been eyeing this one. It’s a bit pricey, but it looks awesome and I love that there is zero waste (plastic bags, etc.) from it. I really love the idea behind these laptop lunch kits (AKA bento boxes) and am sure I will write more about it another time.

Stay tuned as there is sure to be an update from Ava’s first day, as well as pics, later this week! :)

* The Waldorf method was founded by a man named Dr. Rudolph Steiner in the early part of the twentieth century. He believed very strongly that education should not only engage the minds of children, but the bodies and spirits as well. These elements are not treated as separate; the Waldorf method is designed to educate all of them in concert.

Stumble it!

I’m feeling rather disgusted with our insurance company (CIGNA) lately.

First of all, I’ve been trying to get them to acknowledge a claim (just acknowledge it, not even pay it) for Julian’s home birth since, hmmm, let’s see, probably January 2007. So, what’s that, like 8 months now? Every time I call they say it’s in “pending status” and they need something else - one more code, one more form, one more dotted i. I’ve mailed or faxed them everything they’ve requested and when I called today for my monthly status check, I was told it was still not in the system.

The good news is that the woman (Jennifer) I talked to today seemed honestly interested in helping me get this resolved. Perhaps she was just placating me or perhaps she sensed the utter frustration in my voice and genuinely wanted to help. I guess time will tell.

Sadly, with all of this exposure to insurance crap I’ve been getting over the past several month, I’ve found I’m getting more savvy with their jargon. So today I was able to tell the rep what information has been requested, what I’ve sent in, and where to look on documents for the information she should need, etc. She seemed to think they should have everything they need now and said she would forward it back to the insurance adjuster.

Jennifer is the first person I’ve spoken with there who actually asked for my phone number and said she would call me to let me know how this is resolved (which should take up to 15 business days). I was shocked! I was actually just starting to ask her when I should call back again to get another status report and she said that she would take my number and call me. I’m not going to hold my breath, but I did think that was very nice of her.

I’m still holding out some hope that somehow this claim will be acknowledged and then (*gasp*) approved and they will cut me a check for at least part of the $2200 I paid for my home birth. It’s not that the money wasn’t well-spent (my home birth was worth every penny and then some) or that I would hesitate to do it again, but, plain and simple, we could really use the money. Really.

Since I had this live insurance rep on the phone, after we finished talking about my home birth claim I had another question (one I’ve been trying to get answered for two weeks) about coverage for Ava. I have called the insurance company at least five times over the past two weeks and tried various selections on their phone menu system to try to find out if a speech evaluation would be covered. Unfortunately using the phone system to check eligibility never got me to a live person, no matter how hard I tried. I tried pressing zero, I tried saying “speak to a person” and was met with, “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand your request. Did you mean… (insert everything under the sun except speak with a live human being).” I even tried a few choice swear words which got me nowhere as well (but it helped me feel a little better).

Anyway, I’d been in the process of setting up this speech evaluation for Ava for the past month or so. I had to fill out several forms, fax information in and talk to a “case worker” at the rehab center to get this all arranged. I found out today from Jennifer at CIGNA that speech evaluations for developmental issues are NOT COVERED. In other words, it doesn’t matter if you child has a lisp or can’t say sounds that she should be able to at her age, they won’t cover it. If, however, she has a medical diagnosis, like autism or had been in a car accident and lost her ability to speak, then they would cover it. Is that F’d up or what?!

I got back in touch with the case worker at the rehab center and found out the speech evaluation would cost $441(!) if not picked up by the insurance company, so I canceled it. We will have to go another route. The case worker gave me the number for “Childfind” and said I could schedule a screening with them. I guess that’s our next step. Yay for wasted time! :oP

Maybe tomorrow I will call up CIGNA again and cuss out their automated system, just to help me feel better. :)

Stumble it!

Between all the hub-bub surrounding Ava’s birthday and having my parents staying with us for several days, I didn’t have time to keep up-to-date on our checkbook ledger. So when I went to pay some bills last week, I just assumed we had the money to cover them all - even a large credit card bill which contained expenses from Jody’s last work-related trip and a deposit on the work done on our bathroom shower. Because I was expecting Jody to receive an expense check to cover most of that, I went ahead and paid it off in full.

When I was able to update our ledger a day or two later, I discovered we did NOT have the money to pay that and still cover other bills and living expenses. Still, I was expecting Jody to get his expense check soon and figured if he didn’t, I’d just transfer some money from savings to cover it until he got paid. So what did I do then? I mailed our mortgage. Why? I’m not quite sure. It can be received up until the 14th of the month and not be counted as late, so I easily could have held onto it for another week. I guess I felt I needed more drama in my life. ;) Ha.

We found out the expense check payment was still a few days out, and now, with the mortgage pending in addition to the credit card payment, we needed the money ASAP, so Jody attempted to transfer some money from savings. However, it wouldn’t be that simple. Back in February we moved our money from a traditional savings account to a savings account with ING Direct, giving us a much better interest rate. We soon discovered that we never set it up completely. Apparently, I never called in to verify some information which would grant us access to our money. Oops.

So I called to do the verification, figuring I’d be able to then transfer the money and all would be well. Not so. Apparently they mailed me a PIN back in February that I either promptly recycled or disregarded, because I had no idea what it was. Without the PIN there was no way I could complete the verification process, so basically we were being protected from ourselves and not granted access to our money. SH*T!

The only option was to have them mail me a new PIN which would, of course, take 5 to 7 business days - more time than we could afford - literally.

Between another small checking account I have, collecting some money my sister owed me and some cash that was in my wallet, I somehow managed to scrape together just enough to cover my big snafoo (or is it snafoos?). Barely. That didn’t leave us any extra for groceries, gas or anything else. Thankfully we had a good amount of food already in the house and our gas tank wasn’t empty (though it is now).

Jody’s expense check money was deposited into our account today so we are in the clear again! Can you hear my big sigh of relief? Also, the PIN is on it’s way to me and I will finish getting that all set up so in case we run into a situation like this again, I will be able to move our money to cover it.

Nothing like a bit of financial drama to get your blood pumping. We survived, but that was a little too close for comfort.

Stumble it!

We’ve decided to take it easy and not rush into anything with *the* house. We’ve been talking a lot about it - our likes (the layout, the neighborhood, the yard, the unfinished basement for a possible future photography studio for me), our dislikes (it needs new windows and other updates), and what we’d need to do before we could even move in (put in a dog run or fence).

Since finding out it was on the market last summer and didn’t sell, I don’t feel like we have to rush this. If this is the house for us, it will work out. However, the more I think about it, I’m not sure it is *the* house.

In the meantime, we’ve met with a Realtor who walked through our house and told us some things we need to have fixed or start working on ourselves to prepare it for going on the market. Also, he told us we probably won’t get as much for our house as we would like, since it’s a buyer’s market right now and there are something like 16 other houses in our neighborhood already for sale. Blah. I am excited to get the ball rolling though and to know exactly what we need to fix up so that we can put it up for sale.

June is going to be a super busy, crazy month. Not only are we going to be doing home repairs, boxing up all of our clutter and moving it to a storage unit, we’re also having Ava’s 3rd birthday party and my parents will be staying with us for a week. Thankfully, I know they will be a big help in all of this. It’s just going to be a matter of finding the time to get everything done. Staying up ’til midnight painting, patching nail holes in the walls, putting Liquid Gold on our wood work, and packing up boxes is not my idea of a good time, but it all has to be done.

We’re going to revisit “*the* house” this weekend with our Realtor to look at it with a more critical eye. We’ve also found a couple other homes we want to take a look at, and he’s suggested looking at a few homes in our neighborhood that are already on the market, so we know what the “competition” looks like.

And so we are moving onward and upward. :)

Stumble it!