It’s raining. Again. Like it has every day for the past month. We’ve had more rain here this month than we had the entire 5 years I lived in Seattle.

These are not exactly prime house-showing conditions.

Anybody want a house?

PS…The dining room looks way cooler in person.

We’ve been painting and cleaning and caulking and clearing out for days, in the effort to make our house look like a model home. Garden Ridge has become my best friend. Despite the fact that it was in the Garden Ridge shopping cart where Kaelin suddenly made the discovery that apparently it’s UNBELIEVABLY HILARIOUS to reach out and pinch Mama’s boobs when she’s not paying attention.

I’m having guilt right now because Kaelin has been forced to watch an embarrassing amount of television over the past few days. It has rained nonstop for the past 40 days and 40 nights and TV is the only indoor activity that will simultaneously allow me to get stuff done and keep her from tearing apart everything that I JUST NEATLY ORGANIZED FIVE SECONDS AGO.

But lo and behold. The house is officially on the market as of today.

The past few days have been the most exhausting days EVER, but in my personal opinion we’ve done a great job. And we’re hitting ourselves on the head for not doing all this stuff sooner. All the things we’ve wished for since we moved here are now in place – like an actual dining room. With actual dining furniture. And it’s actually quite spectacular. Seriously, if we were looking at this house, we would buy it in an instant because the dining room is THAT COOL.

Hopefully everybody else that views the house will feel the same. Please. Please feel the same.

In the meantime, will somebody please tell my daughter that when we’re in a public restroom and there are other people in there, it is COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY to narrate everything Mama is doing? And no, that is NOT “juice in the potty.”

We’ve been painting and cleaning and caulking and clearing out for days, in the effort to make our house look like a model home. As I’ve mentioned, Garden Ridge has become my best friend. Despite the fact that it was in the Garden Ridge shopping cart where Kaelin made the discovery that apparently it’s UNBELIEVABLY HILARIOUS to reach out and pinch Mama’s boobs when she’s not paying attention.

I’m having guilt right now because Kaelin has been forced to watch an embarrassing amount of television over the past few days. It has rained nonstop for the past 40 days and 40 nights and TV is the only indoor activity that will simultaneously allow me to get stuff done and keep her from tearing apart everything that I JUST NEATLY ORGANIZED FIVE SECONDS AGO.

But lo and behold. The house is officially on the market as of today.

The past few days have been the most exhausting days EVER, but in my personal opinion we’ve done a great job. And we’re hitting ourselves on the head for not doing all this stuff sooner. All the things we’ve wished for since we moved here are now in place – like an actual dining room. With actual dining furniture. And it’s actually quite spectacular. Seriously, if we were looking at this house, we would buy it in an instant because the dining room is THAT COOL.

Hopefully everybody else that views the house will feel the same. Please. Please feel the same.

In the meantime, will somebody please tell my daughter that when we’re in a public restroom and there are other people in there, it is COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY to narrate everything Mama is doing? And no, that is NOT “juice in the potty.”

So you may have noticed that it looks a little different around here.Â

Ok, it appears that I have been called out on my assumptions in the last post. I hereby pronounce that the dining room chairs look GREAT and are the perfect color.

Garden Ridge is having a 50% Off Sale on their baskets, which is great because I’ve found baskets to be my lifesaver in this whole “organize everything and leave nothing on top of any visible horizontal surface” movement we’ve been ordered to undertake. But now I’m out of baskets and have to go back to Garden Ridge (again) to get some more.

But I guess I can do that when I take back the artwork that my dear husband brought home.

I just sent my color-blind husband to Garden Ridge to pick out a piece of artwork that “matches” our newly created dining room. And four dining chairs that “match” the artwork we already have. Am I a glutton for punishment or what?

Sometimes Kaelin decides to skip her nap. It always catches up to her, usually around dinnertime, and sometimes in mid-sentence.

Sorry the camera is so shakey. I was laughing.

For those curious, she’s saying “Watch you,” which really means “watch me,” (she gets confused on the proper usage of “you” and “me”) which is what she chants any time she sees the video camera. She’s developing a bit of a narcissistic streak.

What do you say to a man who has suddenly lost his only child?

I don’t know.

As a parent, how do you recover from having your life, your blood, your heart, torn from you? When the rest of your life changes in an instant and your hopes and dreams that all centered around your child are inexplicably shattered…how much strength must it take to force yourself to keep breathing? How do you get up and live the next day, knowing that you’ll never ruffle that head of hair or hear those giggles again, that every notion you had about tomorrow was just an ill-formed illusion?

I don’t know.

Had it happened to me, I’m not sure I could.

I don’t know this man. He’s more like a friend of friends. But I cry for him.

There is an internet effort going on to send a gift of support to his family. If you wish to transcend distance and participate, you can find more information here.

Every once in a while, Kaelin decides to skip her daytime nap.  It usually catches up to her around dinnertime.  Sometimes in mid-sentence.

Sorry the camera is so shaky.  I was laughing.

Oh, and for anybody curious, she’s saying “Watch you,” which is what she says every time she sees the video camera.  She often means “me” when she says “you” and is developing a bit of a narcissistic complex.

In case you wondered why we’re all ready for bed by 7:00pm…

I love Beth’s tradition of posting pictures of her princess on Mondays. If I were better at commitments I would totally steal her idea every week. But I’m not, so you get the Munchkin Monday, Sporadic Edition.

These were Jens’ and my Dad’s Fathers Day gifts.