My Own Thoughts

“In one evening, we moved every piece of furniture in that house and cleared the clutter,” says Hupp of the staging intervention. “It sold the next day.” While home staging won’t always sell a house overnight, the same inexpensive home-staging concepts that worked for Hupp and her clients will work for you, too. … To [...]

Well… That was a shock. Different plans R mentioned that we want to stage the house for sale when or before he moves. Yes. I thought that was a great idea. Then he mentioned that to do that, we need most of the furniture in the house to be in the house. So I was [...]

Discovery News with pictures are available. Interesting stuff. Dielli.

A quote from Happy Catholic’s Quote Journal: Martin: Does that make you truly happy? Douglas: Oh, well come on. No one’s truly happy. Arthur: I’m truly happy. Douglas: No, Arthur, you are cheery. No one’s interested in the secret of true cheeriness. Arthur: That’s not true. I’m fairly often just completely happy. Like, for instance, [...]

Less than two full weeks ago I made the decision to purge 27 boxes of books. I needed to get rid of them, either donate them to the library or sell them. R recommended selling. I took three boxes of the best books to 1/2 Price and got $20. So forget that. The library can [...]

1. Tree pruning: Need it soon. Cost: We have spent any where from $300 to $2000 on tree trimming in the past. 2. Sticking doors How to fix: 3. Damper not closing Bad or necessary? Typically, the dampers that are required not to close are for vented gas units. That is a standard code now, [...]

What’s been happening The general inspection came through and the sellers agreed to fix all the problems. (Some were substantial, like no junction box and lose wires hiding in the scuttle.) The sellers agreed to pay for most of the foundation problems. We’re paying $650 over what we originally offered to have a house in [...]

Okay, some things are a bigger priority than others. I don’t have to spend all my money at once. First priorities: Blinds We need blinds for the front rooms. We’ll need eight sets, I think. Something for the front door as well. Do we need them for the den, too? Maybe. Especially since anyone driving [...]

My second favorite house sold this week. My fifth favorite is the one off the market. My third favorite house is WAY over on the other side of town (eleven miles and fourteen minutes away from my work). Update: Just today my third favorite house was put under contract. My fourth favorite house was rented [...]

We offered for the second house and, after they went house hunting, they accepted. Because of all the houses that needed foundation work in New Town, I decided we should have the foundation checked. That turned out to be a good plan. There was a lot of damage that I didn’t notice them having fixed [...]

Okay, we made an offer on my favorite house. We made my offer. (12% less) They countered. (3% less) We went to a house that had been taken off the market, that we thought was okay, that has a great kitchen, that had one weird room but we think we figured out a way around [...]

Don’t forget looking into USPS book rate shipping. I used it for 20 boxes of books two years ago. Worked beautifully and the price was very good. In every one of the five substantial moves I’ve made since I left home for grad school in 1985 (none less than 900 miles), I’ve ALWAYS sent my [...]

I think looking for houses is usually more fun than buying houses. My father suggested that getting what you want is more important than paying what the house is worth. This, however, was before he saw my favorite house, which he was much less impressed with. I looked up the houses online, according to the [...]

Three different hunting trips: R and I looked at five houses when we were here together. Two were very nice; three wouldn’t work for us. One of the nice sold the next week. The other one was taken off the market last week. I came back to town three weeks later and saw 20 houses [...]

Not totally sure why. I was stressing on the way home from Dad’s and lunch. But then I sent an email and thought I had accidentally sent some stuff I took out. I think I only sent the right stuff. (I hope so anyway, though it is too late if I didn’t.) And I had [...]

I have to give a paper on Saturday. Half has been written for six months. I decided to add some other things to it. I haven’t finished working with those. And I just can’t seem to get myself motivated to do it, either. I really need to finish this. I have pictures I have to [...]

The end of the semester has stresses of its own. Coming to see my uncle on Mother’s Day weekend, which is when my aunt was buried, adds to that. Moving this summer also adds to it. Having a paper to give next Saturday that I haven’t finished just piles it on. Deciding that I should [...]

Political Calculations asks if the US has become a banana republic. It looks like the answer is yes.