TTFN STL!!!

Well....It has been a hundred years (at least it seems that long) since I updated this blog. We have finally made the move to NC. After looking at over 60 homes we finally found one that wanted to call our own. Less than one week after we went under contract on this new house, our house in St Louis finally sold.

It was bittersweet since we all loved living there so much. It was heartbreaking to watch Abby say goodbye to her friends & our neighbors. I was deeply bummed out!!! But like the title suggests, The G's Are On The Move. I think we all really miss the old house & the friends we had their. Even little Ty is still asking about the kids on our street & when we will see them again. It is so difficult to want to make new friends & new relationships but we are doing our very best.

Abby is working super hard at school & is getting ready to try out for the High School soccer team in February. Ty is now attending pre-school two mornings a week. I'm trying really hard to make this house feel like a home for my family. It will take time though. A home is made of memories & we haven't been here long enough to have any really special moments in this house. I know they will be coming along soon. We just have to be patient & thankful for all that we have. Especially during the holidays when there is so much to be thankful for. Tim is working very hard at his new job but has the new benefit of a very short commute. Only 15 minutes to work is a real treat for him especially when he has spent the last 5 years traveling at least 45 minutes everyday. That extra half-hour can translate into some quality family time!!

I know this house will be home for all of us when Santa is able to find us here!!! Happy holidays to all!

We are still here !!!!

Well...Fourth of July is almost here & we are still sitting tight in St Louis. I can't believe it has been almost 8 months that our home has been for sale. It seems as though it will never sell. The one positive thing to come from this whole debacle is that I may have developed a new habit. I think I could now be officially labeled as "Neat". That is an adjective I never would have used to describe myself pre-house sale but, as they say, it takes 30 days to form a habit & have been compulsively "Neat" for 240 days!!!!

We headed to NC to search for a new home & looked at 44 houses in 3 days. WOW!!!! That is lots of houses. Three counties and at least 20 different neighborhoods. They all became a big blur but the one thing that remained crystal clear in our minds was that fact that we didn't see anything that we loved. Maybe a few things we kind of liked but nothing that really was special.

It was great to see all our family. My parents & Tim's mom all came down to meet us. We had lots of quality time together at places like the zoo and Mt Airy (the home of Andy Griffith). In case you were wondering....yes, they do have the theme song playing along the main street as you shop. It's a bit twilight zone for my taste but my mom thought it was the cats pajamas!!! Good times.

Happy Easter...

Right now, it is just a waiting game. This is the most frustrating thing I have ever done. We are so ready to get our lives in motion in NC but we are in limbo here in MO. Things are picking up and we've had a few more lookers in the last 2 or 3 weeks but nothing major has happened. We recently lost a buyer who was VERY interested, they bought a model home. How on earth can we compete with that??? We actually live in our house. We don't have chess sets with a match in progress sitting on the coffee table & our beds aren't covered with massive amounts of throw pillows perfectly poised. Our bathrooms aren't accented with silver trays of organic soaps yet to be used. My bathrooms have rubber ducks in them. My bed is made but lets get real....who has time to arrange 13 throw pillows on it every single morning !!!

I wish it would just sell already. Maybe the Easter Bunny could have brought us a signed contract in our basket. The kids got lots of great stuff. Ty got bubbles, candy, a baseball hat & an Easter coloring book. Abby got candy, lip gloss & a fun new pair of sneakers. We had a nice Easter & Ty enjoyed the Egg Hunt but it would have been better if we were all together again....

If It's Broke....We Will Fix It !!!

Now that we are coming into the real estate season, all hands are on deck to make sure the house looks great for any prospective buyers that might grace our front porch. Unfortunately, it seems like things are breaking faster than I can repair them. Not long ago we had to deal with the last minute faucet mishap. Most recently, my large wooden backyard playset experienced a minor disaster & now my front door handle is on the fritz !!!

What is a girl to do? Get out the tool belt, that's what! We have a lovely wooden playset in our backyard with a green tent top. During a recent rainstorm, along with the ever present midwest wind gusts that rival Wizard of Oz scenes, the tent top broke. I came down the next morning and looked out the large window on my stairway landing to see the tent top waving wildly. Oh crap !!!! Luckily I was able to replace the broken board and, along with Abby's help, fix the whole thing for under $30. But not before I had a minor anxiety attack.

Trying to sell your house is like waiting for a baby to be born. You can't wait for it to happen but you are in a total panic about when exactly it will take place. Will the baby be born in aisle 3 of the supermarket? Every prospective mom has that thought tucked away in the back of her mind. Same thing with prospective home buyers. We can hardly wait for them to come here but we panic at the thought they might show up at the most inopportune moment. Like when your playset is in shreds or when the door knob is broken and they can't even get in the front door, much less buy the whole house. The only thing to do is your very best. Keep that vacuum revved up and those paint brushes at the ready.

Dog Days of Winter

Gracie is an awesome dog....One of the all-time greats. She stays close off-leash, doesn't make any messes in the house & most all is uber-patient with the wee-ones. Why on earth would I want to mess with perfection?

It goes like this....I have been so busy obsessing about this move and playing both Mommy & Daddy while Tim sets up shop in NC that poor Gracie has been getting the short end of the proverbial stick. She is pretty bummed about it, too. She seems down in the dumps & winter isn't helping either. We have limited (by that I mean zero) walks & stick-throwing sessions when the mercury is below freezing. I thought a puppy friend might help cheer her up and give her a backyard playmate that isn't me.

Then reality set in: 2x the dirt, 2x the hair, 2x the poop!!!! I saw a dog that was just as cute as a button but, alas, not house-broken. That was the deal breaker for me. I am working overtime trying to keep my house as close to perfection as is humanly possible so we can sell it as quick as possible and a puppy just doesn't figure into that equation:

Poopy-stained carpets + tumbleweed-sized furballs = No Sale !!!

So bye-bye little yellow lab....I hardly knew ye. Gracie is more than enough pup for this family.

The Big 3 !!!

Wow !!!! My little Ty is officially a big kid now....3 years old.

We had a great birthday in spite of the minor change to our birthday schedule to accomodate a prospective buyer that wanted to see our house. So instead of the normal birthday festivities we spent our day obsessively scrubbing toilets, vacuuming, and making beds you could bounce a quarter on. We are having big fun now!!!

But being the troopers that we Grandinetti's are, we pulled it all together and the house looked extra-great thanks to Tim's diligence in the backyard pooper-scooping arena. We only had one minor slip up in the closing moments of the "They will be here at 3:00" countdown. As I was compulsively scrubbing my white ceramic kitchen sink with Soft Scrub, I pulled on the faucet spout to activate the sprayer and the entire thing came right off in my hand. Followed by a jet engine-powered stream of water right to my face. Ooops.

What to do? What to do? Well, we opted for Door #2 and choose to stick it back on there very carerfully and pray that the buyers didn't touch, or for that matter breathe, on the faucet lest it fall off right before their eyes. Then we crossed our fingers and fled the scene.

We closed our day with a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday and a gigantic slice of DQ ice cream cake. Just what the doctor ordered. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE GUY!!!