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Helping relatives move

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My husband just left to go and help his cousin and his wife move into an apartment.

I’m not quite sure what happened, but they had a house outside the city and I guess they got into some money troubles and had to sell. Their house was on the market for at least six months and just sold about two weeks ago and now, his cousin is moving back into the city. I’m not exactly sure why their moving so quickly .. maybe their house had a fast closing date?

Anyway .. usually I would help with a move, but I’m just not feeling all that well today. So I’m staying home with our dog and my husband is running around helping with the heavy lifting. Hmmm maybe I got the better deal?

I think my husband’s cousin is going to be changing job soon too. He’s been working for a company that transfers data to microfishe … but I think that’s fazing into digital. He mentioned something about getting into Forex trading the last time I talked to him. I think he bought some Forex trading software and he’s been teaching himself how to use it in his spare time. Maybe he’ll figure out how to make some good money on the side – even if he doesn’t end up changing jobs.

Anyway … it’s a late day move … my husband just left the house at 3 pm! I have no idea when he’ll be home. I also think his aunt is feeding the gang. She mentioned something about making Chili when I was talking to her on the phone. Hmmm … maybe Chris can talk her into letting him bring some of her homemade chili home for me? She apparently makes delicious chili. Of course, it probably won’t sit all that well on my stomach … but then, nothing I eat this week has.

New neighbors coming soon

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It looks like we’re going to have new neighbors soon. Yeah … I hate having an empty house beside us … of course I hated our bad renter neighbors even more.

The couple who bought the house came by earlier this evening. I think it was their first visit since the house officially became theirs. I have no idea when they might move in though – maybe this weekend.

If they’re like us, they’d be smart to keep their current house, apartment or condo for another month and start some renovations before they move in. That’s what we did and it’s amazing how much we got done in one month! We knocked down three walls, tore out all the carpeting and sanded and then put polyurethane down on the wood floors, painted every room of the house, got electrical work done to replace all of the old knob and tube wiring and had some new duct work done.

Wow … I think that’s everything we did .. I might be missing some stuff but that’s the main things we did to our house in a month before we moved in. mostly on our own!

I was rail thin by the time that month was over … oh and we each only took two weeks off so we also worked for the last two weeks of that month.

I had to drag my husband kicking and screaming into our big home renovation. I think he would have rather sat back and taken a enzyte, but in the end he really liked getting his hands dirty and had a feeling of accomplishment at how different our house looked once we were done .. oh and it looked good. It’s all open now instead of having tiny little rooms on the main floor.

Anyway, I have no idea if the new neighbors will renovate or not – but knowing the house they bought as well as I do, I think it would be in their best interest to renovate as the house needs work.

I just hope they’re nice. We have to share a driveway and considering the driveway is only about 10 feet wide our houses are very close together .. so the better we get along the better for all.

Do you ever go to open houses just to look around?

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This past weekend my husband and I decided to go to a few open houses being held at some homes that are up for sale in our neighborhood.

We aren’t thinking of selling our home or moving – not just yet anyway … but we were curious as to how the home owners had renovated and decorated their homes.

One open house we visited was in a home that’s very similar to ours in design. Like us – they had knocked down the walls in the entry hallway, and the walls separating the living room, dinning room and main hallway in order to create an open living room dining room area. The only big difference was that they hadn’t taken out hte stairway hallway as we did. We felt that our main floor looked a little bigger or more open than the home we were in.

Another house that we visited was totally modern – stark white walls, white furnishings and just about everything stainless steel in the kitchen – including the Hansgrohe faucet. The house was a little too modern for my tastes, but I enjoyed looking around.

My husband and I are still renovating our home. Actually our renovations are stalled … so visiting a few open houses might have helped motivate us to finish our renovations and gave me some ideas for how we might decorate once we’re finally done our renovations … well if we ever manage to finish!

Do you ever go to open houses to just look around and get ideas?

How to get the smell of cigarettes and cigars out of the house?

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It looks like we’re going to be having house guests again in about a month. My husbands brother is going to be coming for a visit from Chicago. Just for the weekend … but it will feel like a week. LOL

When my husband and his brother get together it gets really loud and smelly in here! My brother in law smokes roll your own cigarette and occasionally a cigar … I think he smokes tatuaje cigars but whatever they are, along with the cigarettes … that’s all my house smells of for a week or so after he’s left.

My husband and I smoke as well, but Canadian cigarettes don’t smell quite as much as American ones do. Oh don’t get me wrong I know they smell, but there’s a distinct smell to American cigarettes and cigars.

My brother in law knows he’s not supposed to smoke his cigars or cigarettes in the house. He can smoke our cigarettes … but not his. Still .. after a few drinks and when my husband and him get going out comes those stinky things and I’m stuck with the smell. Grrrr

So how do you get the scent of cigars and cigarettes out of a home? I’d love some good ideas. I put out little dishes with diluted white vinegar and that helps a bit, but not enough. Suggestions?

How not to sell a house!

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Last week our neighbors house, which is for sale (remember the bad renter neighbor stories?) had an open house. Just for the heck of it my husband and I decided to take a peek at the house.

I know the house hasn’t had any renovations … possibly since it was built in 1927 … but we were still curious to see if our neighbors family had decorated the house to prepare it for sale … Uh … the answer is NO. A big no!

The house is mostly empty … which is fine. I don’t think a house necessarily has to be dressed up when it goes up for sale … an empty house can allow prospective buyers to picture their own furnishings in the home.

However I don’t agree with what our neighbors family did. As I said they left most of the house empty, but they put what appears to be office furniture in the living room and dining room.

It just looks … odd.

They also took out all of the appliances! Why? I’m fairly certain that if you’re trying to sell a house for a good price you’re probably more likely to make a sale and get your asking price or higher if you have all the appliances (washer, dryer, fridge, stove etc) in place.

This is definitely an example of how not to sell a house! LOL

I guess it will be a while before we have new neighbors!

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