The House

     We now have flyers and our For Sale Sign out front.  The official start will be this evening and then we should get phone calls wanting to look at the property.

     There is now another house in the community which has the same square footage as we do except it does not have a great view and it has a detached garage.  It is actually lower by $200,000, they just did a price change.  We are not in a hurry to sell so we will be OK.  It isn't very good news for us but we will deal with the problem.

     We do have a lock box on the front door.  We had an option of either putting it on the whole time or put it outside when we leave.  I just said put it on the door.  It is one less thing I have to worry about when making sure all the other rooms are ready to be viewed.  Of course we don't think it will sell very quickly but that is usually when the opposite happens.  It would be great for us if it does sell quickly or at least sell for the price or close to it.  We would then rent for the remainder time we are here and still go back to the South Carolina house in the spring and fall.

     Now I was told not to stress about the house.  We are not going to sell just to sell but wait for that right offer.  Hmm, I think I will still stress about the house because I want it presentable.  It would be my luck to go out for a short trip and have someone show up to look and it isn't straightened.  I always hated this part of the selling.

The house will be on the market by Sunday night

We will be getting fliers tomorrow, our sign, the lock box, in preparation for the official launch of the house sale.  We now have to make sure everything is picked up and looks the best it can be in case anyone wants to take a look.  This is the part I am not thrilled about as it causes you to have to plan extra time to double check your house before you step out the house.

We are excited about selling as it will be one step closer to moving to South Carolina.  Hearing the temperatures right now in Bluffton, I am not real anxious to getting there too quickly.  I do want to go though as shades have been put p in some of the rooms and I am wanting to see them.

We haven't had a chance to do much else long distance.  We arranged the shades before we left from the last trip.  We have a pest control service in place because when Alycia and Chris stayed there one day, they were seeing spiders and ants around.  The Palmetto Exterminators started their service for us.  The same company will also be putting in a Mosquito Mister to help keep those pests down.

Jon and family discovered that Hampton Lake has wild life.  The family saw a small herd of deer upon driving into the community.  Wait until they see wild turkey, or maybe rabbit, or even an armadillo.

I look forward to hearing their feedback on the house and community.

Day One Over

I had my steroid infusion of solumedrol today at the Hoag Cancer Center.  This is where their outpatient center is for infusions.  The nurse, Mary Lou, was excellent.  I had the needle put into my left hand as the veins were in good shape.  I also wanted to leave my right free to be able to write in my journal and do word search.  I had my tootsie roll pops as the the steroid leaves a metal taste in your mouth and you can't get rid of it by drinking water.  You can drink sugared iced tea and eating does not get affected.  It doesn't last a long time.  Usually until dinner time.  I had my infusion at 9:30 AM and it lasts 2 hours.

I am having the same problem I usual have in that I can't sleep.  I even took a sleeping pill which usually helps and it is not doing anything for me tonight.  The other problems is I am due to have another infusion tomorrow morning, or I should say today, Sunday, at the same time, 9:30.

I am usually stay awake all night and day before I sleep the next night.  How will this work if I am having back to back infusions?  Will I be awake through tomorrow night too?  If so, I would be wake for 3 days before I can sleep.

A steroid again!

     I had been dealing with shingles for almost a month now.  The majority of the pain and rash disappeared but I still have a few spots on my foot.  They don't hurt and they are not causing a problem.  The one lingering problem has been the numbness from the bottom of my foot to the top of my waist.  I had called my neurologist and was given prednisone to try to correct that problem.  It didn't!

     I still have the numbness on my right but now it has moved to my left foot.  Umm, I don't think it should be going this way so I called my neurologist again.  I explained the problem and he told me that the shingles might have triggered my MS.  He suggested that I have two infusions of Solumedrol, which is an IV steroid.  This steroid has the ability to keep me awake all night.  After I finish the infusions, I then start another round of prednisone.

    There is a possibility that this steroid treatment could trigger the shingles again!  I am trying to get rid of a problem and yet I could be back to where I was before.  Gee, I hope not.

     I have finally been set free from the podiatrist and the foot surgery I had.  The left foot is still a little swollen but that will come down over time.  He did say that I seemed to be walking on the side of my foot away from the surgery site and I needed to make an effort to walk straight and put more effort on walking completely through.

     I am so tired of having all these problems.  I have not been able to do much or go anywhere where there has been a lot of walking.  Now, this problem with the flare up of my MS.  I really hope this will be the end.  I am not planning on doing anything else, especially another surgery, for quite some time.  I just need things on my body to heal and stay that way!

Photos have been taken

     The photographer came last night to take photos of the house.  It didn't take too long but she did take many.  We had to remove some things out of the way that didn't look bad but the realtor wanted a clean shot of the rooms.  The photographer will take the pictures and do her thing by cropping or editing the pictures and send these to the realtor.  The realtor will write the copy for the ads, flyers and MLS listing on the Internet. She will pick out what pictures will be used and then send it to their layout person to finish.

     Sometime next week, we will have the For Sale sign in place and then the real fun begins.  All the realtors from this office will make a trip to the house to view it and then it will be open for all the other realtors around to come take a look.

     We are in no hurry so if it takes a while to sell, we are OK with that.  If it is sold before we are ready to make that move to South Carolina, we will rent around the area until that time arrives.  The house looks terrific and we have done everything we can to make it presentable to people.  There will always be people who come in and make comments as to why they don't like something.  Everyone will have their idea in their mind as to what they want and if they don't see it or feel it, this is their decision to make to walk away and look at another place.  We did the same thing when we looked for a single story house.  Some of the homes were in poor condition, or needed a face-lift, or just wasn't in the right area.  So many things you have to look at when buying.  It took us a while to find the home we are in right now.  You just have to have patience when selling but it isn't easy.  You are anxious to get your life moving on and not wanting to go through that waiting period.

     So now it is on to the next step in the process.  We are excited and anxious to get that first person to look at the house and get their comments.  Comments are just that, comments.  It is not a reflection on you but what fits with them.  It is still hard not to take it personally and grumble about their intelligence but we have to keep it to ourselves and smile and know you will get through the waiting.

House almost on the market

     Today we will having a photographer come in to take pictures of the house.  We have signed our contract with the realtor so the next step are pictures.  I just need to make sure everything is in its place and is looking the best it can be for the shots.  I also hope the weather will corporate and the fog will lift and we have sunny skies.

     The next step will be for the realtors to put the flyers together and the listing posted on several sites.  We should have a For Sale sign in the yard by next week.  When the house sales, and it is before Dad is ready to retire, we will rent a place.  You might be asking why are we doing this now rather than later, it is because we are not sure how quickly it will sell.  Of course, we are being told many different things.  We have done all we can do to have the house ready.  We have the neutral colors, de-cluttered as much as we can, staged the house to give the best look possible, and everything is neat and tidy.  Now we wait for that buyer.

     We are looking forward to moving to our house in South Carolina.  We haven't spent much time there but when we do, it is so relaxing and the people are so friendly.  We are looking forward to our trip in October.  Hopefully it won't be too long after that we will move there permanently and enjoy everything around us.

House has been staged

     We are getting ready to put our house on the market and because we had taken so many things to our other house in South Carolina, our house was pretty bare.  We were able to live just fine in it but to try and sell a home with wide open spaces, it does not give a buyer a sense of what it could be.  So we had it staged.

    Staging a home requires someone to come into your house, take pictures, look around to get a feel of the house, and return later to change everything.  This is what happened on Saturday, the 16th.  The realtor we have, had someone that could do just that for us.  We did not have a bed in the second bedroom and used that room more as a catch all.  It now looks like a bedroom.  They placed a day bed, covered it, put on some pillows and placed a tray with napkins and a clear coffee cup filled with coffee beans to represent a cup of coffee.  She had us remove a book case (we had two) to make it less cluttered, move some things around and it looks like a regular bedroom now.  I will have to post some pictures later.

     The designer went to the master bedroom and really did not have to do too much.  She placed another bedspread on top of the one we have, which had different shades of blue, added more pillows, and the room popped.  Very pretty!  We had a dull room after seeing what she chose.  We did like the change.

     The second bathroom was next.  Really not too much was added but some small touches to the counter.  It just dressed it up.  Everything else stayed the same.

     The main room took the biggest change.  We had purchased a couch before Jennifer, Noah, and Madilynn came to visit, as we did not have seating for them.  We had moved the leather couch we had, to South Carolina.  All we had were two recliners for our own use.  Those chairs and couch were moved from their original positions.  The couch was moved to the place of the recliners.  The recliners were moved to the opposite side, facing the couch with our large coffee table in between.  It was a nice set up for visiting with people but not a great layout if everyone in the room wanted to see TV.  Because it is just the two of us, it didn't matter, as long as we could see it.

     We have a long room, so with the couch moved up, the room behind it was a place for a small table and two chairs.  It was going to be set up to use as a game table or a place where you could play cards, or even for that cozy place to have a cup of coffee or tea, and to look at the great view we have.

     An end table was repositioned with a lamp, a divider was put up with a large ceramic pot with reeds, and some other touches.  The dining room table was kept pretty much the way it was except a table runner was used instead of the place mats.  The other built-in we have contained the wine cooler, on top of the counter, had a large sailboat that Dad had put together.  This was left in its place as well as an empty wine rack for the over flow of wine bottles that did not fit into the cooler.  A decorative plate that went along with the wine theme, was placed.  A painting, we had of dolphins and the undersea, was replaced with a mirror.  Upon looking at the mirror, you had the reflection of our view.

     Anyone that has placed a house for sale, knows the stress you get from having to make sure the house is the best it can be, for the buyers.  Our house now looks great but it has caused some upheaval with me.  Things have been moved and changed.  I have been needing things to be kept in its place for my own cognitive needs.  It has been stressful to not have that sameness.  I will get used to the placement of the new things and where the old things were put, but it was a lot to handle in two hours.

     We are hoping to sell the present home so we can take the proceeds to place on the new home in South Carolina.  We are really hoping that it will be enough to pay that home off.  We would then be without a mortgage.  My car has been paid off.  We don't have a lot of debt from credit cards either.  A good position for retirement.

     We would not move to the new house just yet but would rent for probably another year to a year and a half.  Of course, this depends on how quickly it sells.

     The For Sale sign has not been placed yet but should be in the next few days.  Then the "fun" begins.