Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Of Course You Want to See the House

Our realtor, Kim, told us that our house would sell, "when you leave you underwear out and there are dishes in the sink." Our house sold when not only the underwear was out but everything was out and being put in boxes. I think this tid-bit of wisdom applies to more than just selling your house.

We have been in Arizona for about a month now and there are several things that needed attention in our new home. Living in Forest Service housing is a bit different than owning your home. Not only is it not yours, they are suppose to take care of the things that are falling apart or in need or some love. A lot of the time, they will pay for the supplies and you do the labor. When we moved in, the first thing we wanted to take care of was the paint colors. They are incredibly dark and not our style either. Well, a month later, and we are still dark. Gary found out the other day he can use his purchase card and buy the paint once his purchase card gets approved in the Washington office. There are also holes in the screens so the bugs have free range in the house. The windows and screen doors have to be open because there is no A/C here. It gets cool enough at night, if you leave your windows open, to keep the house comfortable as long as air is moving around.

Anyway, there are lots of these little things that need to be looked at and fixed. All repairs go through a facilities man who is also new here. In fact, he started the same day Gary did. Gary talked to him today and then said he would stop by later. Later was this morning.

This is the morning that I decided to do Ethan's homework, take the boys for a little hike, write down the receipts in the checkbook, anything and everything but housework. Living in these slightly smaller quarters means that the housework has to happen each and every day. There are dishes piled high on the counter tops. The living room floor was cluttered with cling-stickers the boys had taken out of a book. My computer desk had papers on top of papers. The school lunch stuff was still out on the other counter and the garbage was completely full. UGH.

George and his wife, Mary, seem really nice but I'm just totally embarrassed that our first meeting was when the house was a W - R - E - C - K! I guess houses sell and get repaired all when your underwear is hanging out!

No comments: