Selling A House Makes Me A Stinky Mom

I HATE selling a house. I'm having flash backs from when I was selling my house in Kentucky. I remember getting a call for a showing and having to leave my house, in perfect condition, with Ty who was 19 months, Brans who was 2 months and our dog Lexi. We had gone to McDonalds for a treat and then parked a little ways away from my house to wait for the people to leave. Suddenly I heard a poop explosion from the backseat. I hopped out of the car and attempted to clean a disaster of a diaper on my seat. Poop was everywhere. Ty started crying about something and then Lexi jumped out of the car and headed down the street. Brans started crying, probably because he had no clothes except a diaper (I hadn't brought any extras) and it was cold out. Anyway, it's just a nightmare.

Well fast forward 4 years and I'm here doing it again, except I have a bigger house to keep clean, more kids who are much messier, still got the dog and I'm pregnant. Last night it began. We got the, "can we show the house in an hour" call around 5:30. This was our first showing, I had dinner in the oven and the house was a mess. Luckily (or maybe I should say miraculously, as in it was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father) my husband was actually home (he's NEVER home that early). We zoomed around straightening, wiping, vacuuming, hiding, until the last minute. Then we gathered the troops and shoved them into our car, sweating. Well Lexi USED TO fit in our car, but now we have a full car. She wanted to sit in the front seat, but that wasn't gonna work so we tried to get her into the back on the floor. Well, somehow in the scuffle she caught her nail on something and it tore and the blood began. Oh it was ALL over the car. We headed to Sonic and the park and then back home. I spent the next while scrubbing blood out of seats while Bry got kids in the bath. What a night.

Well this morning I woke up, happy to know that my house was nice and neat for the 2nd showing that was later that afternoon. I thought, maybe I should take the kids somewhere all morning so the house just won't get all messed up. But my TO DO list got the better of me and I decided instead to change out the door knob and locks on the front door (which turned into a NIGHTMARE 2 hour ordeal) and paint the front and back doors. This was a VERY bad decision. I spent WAY too much of my morning yelling (remember telling yourself that you would NEVER yell at your kids) at the kiddos, "no I can't get you a snack right now... I'm covered in paint" "PLEASE don't touch that door, it's wet" "Stop yelling at your brother" "Just give your brother the toy back" "Just GO AWAY!" Oh it was awful. Well when I started painting the back door I decided to let the kiddos play in the backyard... figured they could do less damage to the house there. WRONG. What was I thinking. Uh, have you seen my last post? My backyard equals MUD. Not 10 minutes into painting and I turn around and 3 little boys are covered in mud and they've decided they are monkeys and are leaving their little paw prints ALL OVER the cement and the fence. Usually this is funny. Today, not so much. Luckily, wait, miraculously, my hubby happens to come home for a quick visit (that NEVER happens!). When he sees what happens he questions me (in not a totally nice and understanding way) and I burst into tears. I'm still in my jammies, I'm covered in paint, my kids are covered in mud, the house is a mess, Ty is supposed to be at school in 30 minutes and the showing is in an hour. My sweet hubby takes over the mess outside... hoses down the cement, the fences and the screaming monkeys and then I put them in the tub. Then we rush, again, around the house scrubbing, wiping, hiding until it's time for both of us to leave. Have mercy, this house showing thing is going to kill me. I think I may just get us a hotel to live in until we sell it.

I dropped Ty off at school, ran home and put some clothes on and then left to run some errands with Brans, Cason and Lexi in the car. It was a good drive. I apologized to Brans for being so mean to him that morning. He responded with "that's okay, Jesus still loves you." And we talked about how Jesus still loves bad guys. We watched the rain. Got a dog biscuit for Lexi from the nice lady at the bank window. I realized that Brans doesn't stop talking for second. And he has a really loud voice. I gnawed on my finger nails. I'm not a nail biter, but all the cleaning and painting and wreaked havoc on my manicure. I saw a truck with male parts hanging from the hitch (you know what I'm talking about) and thought how disgusting that was, though I'll admit I laughed the first time I saw it. I dropped off clothes at a donation place. And I snuck Rolos into my mouth so I wouldn't have to share. Then we headed home.

I was a much better mom this afternoon. No cleaning. We watched Life in my bed and ate grapes. Then we built a city out of Trios. I'm exhausted. And this is only day 3 of having our house on the market. Sigh.