Heading Out

We are leaving from church to head North. It's been a week:

-We met Vicky and Justin for lunch yesterday. My baby was wearing clothes from my closet, and they fit her. We joked about how my mom loads me up with stuff every time I see her, and now I'm doing it to Vicky, but she's excited because it's good stuff. :-) I told her to say no to the stuff she can't use.
- We met with them because a realtor friend from church came by to talk about what we need to do to list the house. Not surprisingly, her advice included decluttering, cleaning until it shines, and amping up the curb appeal. She also strongly suggested was paint half the house. Turns out, when buyers come through, they're less likely to buy a house with green or blue walls. Guess which two colors are most prevalent in my house? Not only that, but because of the comps in the neighborhood, we would be lucky to get what we need to pay off the house, let alone finish paying for the upgrades. So Eric suggested we rent to Vicky and Justin for what they're paying in St. Louis, and we could cover the rest of the mortgage. They'd effectively be paying half, so we'd be losing money, but we'd still have the tax write-off,  we'd be paying down what we owe, and Alex would have a place to stay when he comes on breaks to see Emma. We did stipulate no smoking in the house, no illegal substances (they had a pot-smoking roommate for a while), and one bedroom must be a guest room so we have a place to sleep when we come for St Louis festivals. (There are two we're going to help Jeff with.) They are interested but need to talk to their current landlord.
- Did I mention last week that my dad's friend's nephew referred us to a realtor in Chicago? We set up a house hunting trip for this week and she sent us a bunch of listings to look at. Friday, when our realtor was here, she called and said she noticed the listings we really liked were in the 'burbs, and she doesn't do 'burbs. She's been selling real estate in the City for ten years, but she doesn't know anything about the 'burbs. She offered to try to set us up with someone who could show us around out there, but we might want to take some time and drive around the 'burbs we're interested in. All of this on Friday!!! She couldn't have her freak-out on Wednesday, when we had more time to deal with it? And how do you sell real estate in four states and be unwilling to GPS an address in Arlington Heights? 
- We got on realtor.com and found a bunch of listings we're interested in. I went old school, printed them and put them in a binder so I don't have to mess with trying to look them up on my phone when I'm out scouting for a place to live. 
- We started working toward packing, but until we know how much space we're going to have, it's hard to know where to start.
- My coat closet looks lovely. So does the foyer.
- I did manage to get some good words in earlier in the week. Monday was a really good day. I'm hoping I can work past the stress and use the strange environment to my advantage this week instead of being distracted by it.
- One of the neighborhoods we're strongly considering has a Y with a pool and evening yoga classes! Yeah yoga!
- The weather in Chicago looks good, if a bit cool, this week. Guess I'd better get used to that.
- Depending on Eric's work schedule, I may be spending Friday checking out museums. If he has to work, and we're not sure if he will due to the continuing shut-down, I'll have to find something to amuse myself so we can check out of the hotel and go home when he gets off. I can think of worse things.
- Yes, the shut down may affect us. We don't know. The contracting people haven't been able to get a straight answer from the FBI office about whether or not Eric will be essential personnel. If he is, that would be good for now (he'll start getting a paycheck) but not so good in a snow storm. This is another area we're being forced to wait and see. He's supposed to start tomorrow, but he doesn't know where, other than the front door, or what time. He's not even sure of the dress code. Personally, I really wish he'd find something that wasn't government contracting, but apparently that's where the money is right now. At least the shut-down hasn't affected military retirement pay, so we do have some income. We won't starve, and our savings will cover the short-falls.

So that's how things are in Casa Dunno. Stay tuned. I'll report the blog-worthy details through the week, if there are any.