T Minus 5 Weeks!

So where have I been?  It's nice to know that I have some "real life readers," that is people that I personally know, who are wondering when I am going to post next!  Really I'm flattered and I apologize that I haven't been able to post every day.

With less than 5 weeks until baby number 4 arrives I am nesting like crazy, which leaves little time for anything else.  That, in combination with preparing the house for the market, has kept me offline for most if not all of these last days.  With my trusty phone in hand, I've been able to quickly post to Face Book or do any other Internet perusing that I need to do in 15 minutes or less, but they have yet to perfect "blogging by phone."  So actually sitting down to the terminal is a real treat.  The only thing that brings me here today is that I needed to check on a few things that I couldn't do from my phone!

We are planning to meet with a realtor this week and make the final preparations for posting our sign and getting this ball rolling!

The girls and I have been going through toys together.  A ton more would be gone at this point, but I figured I should let them have a say as to what stays and what goes.  It's hard to get the three of them to agree unanimously that something should be tossed, so concessions have been made. We are halfway through the project and I have two large garbage bags to toss...If I can come out of there with two more, than I will be thrilled!

I mentioned Flylady.com in my last post or two and, wow, I've really embraced this method of housekeeping and I have to say my house has never looked better for longer.  I used to be a marathon cleaner, which means that the dust rags, mops and Windex really only came out when I knew I had company arriving within the next 48 hours...Thanks to Flylady, I would happily invite you in if you showed up on my doorstep. I didn't think this was possible with three little ones who always seem to be trailing me with dirty clothes, toys, and crayon pictures of rainbows, flowers, and princesses. I can still see places that need decluttered, but at least now I feel like I have a plan of attack and I am not so overwhelmed with the everyday tasks--planning meals, making beds, turning over a load of laundry, that I can't get to these areas that have been neglected for far too long.

In other news, the dog has been given more freedom!  Usually, crated at night, we are trying to eliminate the need for the "decorative" 2 1/2 x 3 foot crate in our dining room.   We will need to move it when we show the house.  I like having the crate around, because lets face it, the dog can be a little pesky and it's nice to be able to put him in there to get him out of my hair.  Also, not everyone who comes for a visit wants to contend with a 70 pound, bum wiggling boxer drooling on their pants or trying to sit in their lap! He's doing okay...although he knocked Olivia off the porch and into what's supposed to be my garden and she got a nice goose egg and cut on her forehead and scrape on the side of her eye!  I've also seen about 5 chewed up toys laying around this week and have countlessly yelled "LEAVE IT" as he tries to sneak off with another Barbie to nosh. But that's what we get for organizing the toy room this week I guess! Once everything has a place, it might get better...or he could just move on to shredding shoes, or crayon pictures of rainbows, flowers, and princesses!