TanksHill...Roll on!!

[murphysranch]

Dump the spring rods. If you have nice trim and its in good shape, then leave the windows uncovered. If not, then go to American blinds and order their cheapest faux wood blinds for key windows. Not white, but oak, or pine or something wood colored. We just did that. I took down 8 spring rods and put up 6 of these wood blinds and two pleated shades - cus we're gonna list this place in late spring. It was the best $522 investment I've made recently.

Let me try for some pics here.

 

[TanksHill]

Thanks Dac. Great info. Ideally I would like to move straight to the property we intend to buy. Dh thinks a rental would be better. I don't want to move twice. I would rather just live in my fifth wheel.

Barb, your windows look great. I think we have he same mouldings. But where do you draw the line on coverings. I have probably over 18 windows and 3 french sliders. The girls rooms and dining room have 6 x 6 foot windows. Not cheap to cover.

I'm afraid I would rather have nothing than half. It's not like we have neighbors. :bun

 

[Farmfresh]

No coverings allows in maximum daylight and leaves room for the buyer's imagination. I say leaving the windows completely uncovered CAN be a great benefit ... depending on the view from the window.

At my house, for example my big three window bay in the dining room looks lovingly out at my BIL's house just across the drive. These are south facing windows and I love the light and the wood trim on my windows so I covered my top sash glass with a frosted "on the glass" window treatment. Now I get light and don't have to look at a dumpy old house. I also have a vertical blind on the windows for privacy in the evenings.

If you can look out and see something pleasant then leave them uncovered and clean. If not a simple blind like murphysranch suggested would be nice.

A final consideration is heat. Since you live in the south you will need something up there if the window is exposed to direct sun and is causing heat gain in the room. That is unattractive to a potential buyer, even more than rolly shades.

 

[TanksHill]

My family room is due west and in the summer cooks. Shh don't tell anyone. It has 3 exterior walls. It is also a vaulted ceiling with clear story windows. No coverings going up there. Hopefully the weather will not be an issues when we sell.

The view is definitely an asset.

Ugg if I could just get dh to commit. I guess June is still our goal.

g

 

[lorihadams]

get some sheers....cheaper and it will cover things but let in light and make it look airy.

Don't replace the appliances....the buyer will want to pick out their own anyway and you don't want to pay for new ones that someone won't even want in their house anyway.

Pick one color for the whole house and buy a 5 gallon bucket of primer and a 5 gallon bucket of paint. Trust me....it'll save you money. Go for good paint and primer too...don't do stark white, do a cream color that will contrast with the woodwork a bit but won't be glaring at you. Eggshell finish, it cleans better.

Really just try to restrain yourself and just clean up everything and make it look fresher. Like I said, if you are going to list it as a "fixer upper" you want to leave things for them to fix up.

Figure out the bare bones minimum you are willing to sell it for and list it for $20,000 above that. I'm not a realtor but thats what we did. We originally bought our house for $104000 and we sold it for $125000. Much less than we wanted to make but that is what we needed to make minimum to do what we needed to do.

 

[TanksHill]

Thanks Lori. yes I agree with the paint. Most of my common areas are something called cottage white. I am sure it will be neutral enough.

December 29,2010

We are getting a good rain today. Another nice soak.

I am kinda locked in with the kids. Crazy, annoying and bored!!!

yesterday I had some major stuff to deal with for my Mom. Last week a door to door sales guy talked her into upgrading to ATT U Verse. I kinda questioned the necessity but if it makes her happy. Then yesterday she called in tears. She is old, half blind and technically challenged to say the least. She could not understand any of it. Couldn't see the on screen menu and was basically having a mental breakdown over the whole thing. I made some calls and had it cancelled. Thank goodness they understood and gave her a full refund. They were planning to convert her back to her regular phone service.

But in the process my 55 year old brother got mad and unplugged all the boxes. Well this disconnected the digital phone. It's kinda hard for them to make the appointment to restore her analogue service if they can't call her.

So yesterday and today I have been trying to contact ATT to give an alternate # for making the appointment. Talk about a frustrating endeavor. Today I made some headway and as I type this I am on hold for yet another department. Th worst part is if my brother would just plug the digital box back in the phone would work. I tried talking him through it over the cell but he could not figure it out.

I am two hours away and I am certainly not dragging my kids out in the rain to plug in a phone .

So other than that the day is going well. I have managed to get lots done.

Whew, just finished with ATT. They have added my brothers cell number to the Land Line Order. I am relieved of my duties.

What a crazy day.

 

[TanksHill]

Happy New Year!!!

Wow, 2011 is here. I can't believe it. I will be 40 later this year. Where has the time gone?

Lets see so far this year.....

We had a few days in the local desert. The trip there was kinda eventful. We left early and at a particular point in our journey one highway ends and comes to a "T" intersection. We have to go left. DH was on the phone, the sun was in our eyes and he almost missed the turn. I screamed like a girl and he threw the phone and took the left at about 45 mph. I felt the Freightliner slide and the trailer was coming around on my right. We almost jack knifed. Dh turned into the skid and the whole rig came to a stop. I then I got out and almost puked. The only reason we did not loose the rig was because our semi weighs a good 15k. So the 14k trailer didn't flip it. Thank the Lord. We got lucky.

So that night I celebrated. Lets just say the next morning I had a headache.

This week the kids are back at school and loving it. They are up and dressed early. Helping get through breakfast and making lunches. Ds is happy to be back with his friends. The girls don't really care either way.

Dh is trudging through work. We have decided we need an exit plan. But now it the WORST possible time to sell our house. I don't know what we are doing.

I need to work on my garden plan, but I think I should take down the Christmas tree first.

Priorities ya know.

So the Fresh fish once a week is going well. Tonight I did a baked Cod lightly rolled in WWflour and cornmeal then butter then Parmesan. Yum!!! It was served with quinoa and sauteed zucchini & onions. Salad on the side. I think to make in GF next time I will use almond meal.

The kids loved it. Ds ate his with fresh pico de gallo, the girls used homemade tarter sauce.

I made a great find at the grocery yesterday. I found a ton of sausage in 1 lb packages marked down to 50cents each. I bought 2 of the 3 cases. I didn't want to seem greedy. There was 32 pounds total.

I see a lot of breakfast scrambles in our future.

Well other than that my hens are laying better. I am back up to 10 eggs from 22 girls. I still have a few to deal with. Not sure when or how.

My turkeys are well. Tom aka One Eye is huge. He is constantly walking around strutting his stuff and showing off. He likes to gobble now. Sounds cool!! The turkeys go to bed with the chickens now. At dusk they all head in. The turks are up on the roost as well. Makes my life easier. No more turkey wrangling.

Now that leaves me with an empty hut/tractor. Hummmm????

My hard cider is done bubbling. I guess now I need to either get it into new bottles as a still cider or secondary ferment. I have no idea. I will have to do some reading.

That's about it on the SS front.

Have a great day!!

g

 

[BarredBuff]

My egg production is pitiful 3 eggs out 17 hens....

 

[Henrietta23]

My egg production is pitiful 3 eggs out 17 hens....

You've got me beat. I'm getting one or two a day and sometimes none. I've got 15 hens.

 

[Farmfresh]

Thank God you all are OK. Wow that is scary.

At least you were able to have some fun time after and relax a bit.

I take our tree down usually the day after Christmas. With a real tree it is starting to get pretty dry by then. I helped my D1 take her tree to the drop off today. We have a group of Boy Scouts that sell Christmas trees each year and then they chip them up to recycle as mulch later when you bring them back. They also collect trees from other sources and ask a $2 donation to chip those on the honor system.