after shots

Here they are! The awesome house photos taken by Chris. Having a professional photographer in the family is so handy. Now to get ready for a second viewing tonight. Cross your fingers and toes!

       flooring, hardware, lighting, window coverings, and painted the walls and cupboards

another view of my favourite room in the house! 

the living room and dining room - newly de-cluttered and freshened up

another view - I love the NYC skyline above the sofa, a gift from Chris

the dining room and one of the entrances to the kitchen

kid's bathroom, newly painted with updated light fixture and some rubber ducky friends

master bedroom, de-cluttered with new lighting and window coverings

Matthew's room

Sydney's room

cozy family room with entertainment centre and lots of seating

the office - freshly painted and organized

the rec room - lots of work done here! ready for ping pong and video games

ensuite bathroom - no more green paint or flowered border

open house day

The sign is up. The flyers are printed. And today we had our first, and hopefully only, Open House. We had around 15 couples attend with a few really interested. After months of hard work and tough decisions we put the house on the market April 1st. We tried convincing our realtor Stan that we'd only accept 1.5 million for the house and not a penny less, but our April Fool's joke didn't get past him.

Showing the house feels bittersweet to me. On one hand it's exciting to have interest and potential buyers. But on the other hand, I want to say "get the hell out". I can't be the only one to be stressed and weirded out by this, right? Have I watched too many Sell This House type shows? The idea of strangers looking around my house is literally keeping me up at night. I stayed far away from the afternoon Open House, choosing instead some retail therapy combined with ridiculous amounts of sugar. More on why you'd be certifiably crazy to try losing weight while selling your house in another post...

One the plus side the house looks great! Chris did the photos for our listing (having a photographer husband is so handy!) and I'll post them this week.

I think this will be one of those times where I have to keep reminding myself that "this too shall pass". In order to get to the finish line, the fresh start, we'll have to overcome some challenges along the way. A new house will bring many positive things - more convenient location, new school and friends for the kids, and a bit more financial breathing room. I just need to remind myself that a few hundred times and I might just make it through this in one piece.

A new addition to our lawn - the sign is up!

back on track...

Recently we were clearing out a closet and I found a box filled with my old grade school diaries. I thought the box was lost years ago so finding them was a big surprise. There were several of them in the box, each one reflecting what I was into at the time. There was a green Anne of Green Gables diary, a sticker and glitter covered diary and a personal favourite, the diary covered in dire warnings to anyone who dared to read it.

Of course I had to stop what I was doing and immediately start looking through the pages. It's amazing how quickly you can be transported back to a different time, and a different version of yourself. I couldn't resist reading parts out loud to Chris, laughing until I cried at private jokes only I could possibly get. 

One thing stood out to me though, as I looked through the box. While I had a dozen or so different diaries in the box, they all had one thing in common. All of them were written in for a weeks, sometimes days, then left blank. I started them with enthusiasm, even writing messages to my future self, and then abruptly stopped. I couldn't help wondering why. 

Then I realized my 34 year old self had done the same thing with a blog that the 13 year old girl did with her diaries. It's been more than a month since I wrote on this blog and that's not ok with me. Today I sat down and forced myself to think about why this pattern was repeating itself, and why I had been putting off writing again. I started thinking about an article I read in May's O Magazine titled "Hope Springs Eternal" by Robin Romm. She ended the article with "There would be new fresh starts. There would be new hopes."

So here's what I figured out today...When the initial excitement of starting a blog, or a new teenage diary, wears off what you're left with is the actual look inside. You're writing down your feelings and thoughts and it's more real. When I would get to the point where this honesty became uncomfortable I'd make excuses to put off writing. Too busy with getting the house ready to sell. No one will read it anyway so it doesn't matter. I'll do it tomorrow. After time goes by it's easier to start a new diary, or blog, than it is to pick-up where you left off. 

Fresh starts don't have to be all or nothing, a one-shot deal. You can fall down, as I did with writing, and get back up. Here's to breaking the cycle of my 13 year old self and finally keeping a diary, because this version of me has lots left to say.