We have another house showing tonight at 6:45. Yay! I’m not sure if we’re going to get any over the weekend or not. I guess some people might use their three-day weekend to house hunt, but I would think a lot of people will be out of town. And the weather is going to be crappy, which I don’t think will help our cause. Oh well, having two showings the first week is two more than I expected.

Seriously, I know we have a nice house, I just can’t imagine why anyone would voluntarily choose to live in Duvall. The only reason I live here is because Dave already owned this place when we met. After things got serious and we decided to co-habitate, his four-bedroom house in the boonies seemed more practical than my tiny one-bedroom apartment in Seattle. (Did I mention that I had a view of Elliott Bay? And I could see the Space Needle every time I walked out my front door?) God, I loved that place. But I loved Dave more, so I moved. And I’ve been itching to get out of here almost since the first week I moved here (or whenever the first time I saw a cat mauling a field mouse was), so I’m really looking forward to someday living in a house that both of us love for a change. And maybe a place where we could let Cate play in the backyard without worrying about coyotes. A girl can dream, right?

This is random, but it’s been bugging me for the past few days: we had someone come out to pressure wash the siding and the deck, right? I found the guy because he had a sign up near our house, and he came out to give me an estimate the day I called him. His price was reasonable, and he didn’t give me creepy-contractor vibes, so I was planning our list date around when he could do the job. When I called him to confirm, he said that his pressure washer needed a new part, and he was waiting for it, and could he do the job around the end of this week? I said no, that really wasn’t ok, so I’d just find someone else, thanks anyway. He was like, “uh… let me make some calls and I’ll call you right back.” Ooookay. He called me a few minutes later to say that he found the part locally, so he could come on Tuesday (the 20th) to do it, would that be ok? Um. What?

The thing that bugs me is that he MUST have been lying, right? I mean, was he saying that he was going to go for a week without making any income because he was waiting on a part for his pressure washer? He didn’t have another one for when his main one crapped out? I mean, my mom has an extra sewing machine so she can still do her alterations business when her main machine is in the shop. And then suddenly he magically finds the part within about 10 minutes? I don’t know, it sounded shady.

Anyway, he showed up on Tuesday like he said he would, and he did a decent job, so that was fine. When it came time to pay him, he asked me if I would make the check out to him rather than his company “so [he] wouldn’t have to pay taxes.” I didn’t really know how to argue with that. Am I supposed to say, “Well, as a matter of fact, I think you should pay taxes, sorry”? So I made the check out to him personally, handed it over, and… he left. It wasn’t until later that I realized he never gave me a receipt or an invoice or anything for the work he did. So if he had screwed up something on our property, I would have no recourse whatsoever. (Thankfully, it doesn’t look like that’s the case, as far as I can tell.) Now, my guess is that he’s a sub-contractor of some kind, and if I had made the check out to his company, he would’ve only gotten a small percentage of it, and this way he got to keep the whole amount for himself. But yeah, that was totally shady business, wasn’t it?

The sign in the driveway went up yesterday around 4 p.m. A couple of hours later, Cate was in a foul mood, so I decided that we should head outside and go for a walk. We were just heading out the driveway to go see the horse across the street when one of the neighbors came by to snag a flyer from the “for sale” sign. Gee, that was fast!

It was kind of awkward because I’m sure he didn’t mean to run into me. But he said, “Mind if I take one of these?” And I told him that it was no problem, but jokingly asked if he was going to buy the place. He said that he was going to pass it on to some friends of his who’ve been talking about moving to this area. Hmm. That’d be pretty cool, if it’s true. But I’m pretty sure he was b.s.ing me, and he just wanted to see what we’re asking for the house and what the inside looks like (there are a few interior photos on the flyer). I know that in my parents’ neighborhood, anytime a house goes on the market, my dad snags a flyer because he’s just a nosy type like that.

But anyway, we had a very nice chat, and it turns out that he owns the farmhouse across the street where Cate’s favorite horse lives. (I told him that his horse was how she learned the word “horsey”. He was mighty impressed.)

Then this morning, Cate and I were sitting on the couch watching cartoons while she drank her milk, and I saw a silver Mercedes station wagon pull up in front of our house. The guy got out, took a flyer, and looked around at our property for a good minute or two. I have no idea if he was an agent or a prospective buyer, but he definitely doesn’t live around here, because I would’ve remembered that car. (It was way too shiny to live in this neck of the woods with all of the loose gravel roads and driveways.)

So, here’s a question. I have this fear that no matter how often I scoop the litter boxes, our house smells like cats. Renee has warned against using air fresheners or plug-ins because she says that it smells like you’re trying to cover something up. (Plus, the fragrance probably isn’t good for Cate’s asthma.) So I stocked up on slice ‘n’ bake cookies, because they can be ready in 15 minutes, and they’ll make the house smell all homey. And then to keep us from eating all of them, I thought I might leave the plate out with a note that says “Thanks for coming, please help yourself.” Renee said that was a good idea, because if people are eating, they’re more inclined to stay in the house longer, and they might be comfortable enough to sit on the couch and try to imagine themselves in the house. What say you? Good idea, or does it scream, “we’re desperate and trying too hard”?

Oh, and while I was typing this, we got a phone call that we’re having our first showing tonight at 6:30. Yay!

Our house is kinda-sorta on the market, but not totally there just yet. Renee, our realtor, came over today to take pictures of the house and to fill out paperwork with us. So that part is done, which technically means we’re on the market, but we’re holding off a couple of days to “officially” list because she wants to do an all-out marketing campaign: flyers, ads, the whole nine yards.

So to sum up: we have a lockbox on the door, but no sign in the yard. I guess we’re in some sort of real estate limbo for the next couple of days.

See? Lockbox. So we’re almost there, right?

I followed Renee around while she was taking pictures today and took a few myself. Then I went and dug up all of the pictures that I took way back when we first started all of these home improvements, so I could do a little before and after comparison. Check it out:

You can see the whole set here if you want. The pictures of the kitchen at the end are my favorite.

I’m actually kind of happy that we aren’t listing until Tuesday because it gives me time to do a couple more things that I’ve been wanting to do but haven’t had time to do yet. Nothing that would really be required for the house, just some minor extra stuff to jazz the place up a little bit.

So, there you have it. Not all the way there, but hooray for progress!!