"It doesn't smell like 'dog' in here..."

This weekend, Kim and I busted our asses cleaning, sorting, chucking, purging, dusting, etc. We are going to put the house on the market very shortly and there was a lot of work to be done. Especially in that black hole we call the basement. And when I say we "busted our asses", we really did.

We were exhausted by mid-afternoon and completely knockered by the evening. Sore. Tired. Hungry.

Oy.

It really is amazing how much stuff one family can collect in just a year or two. We did all the same cleaning and sorting two years ago when we first put the house on the market. (Actually, I think we did a bit more this time, so...yea!) Knowing this, I had questions like this running thru my brain all weekend:

- How can that same closet that was once virtually empty be cluttered up again??

- Why do we have so many pillows in this joint?

- Is it really possible that the dogs make the walls dirtier than the children do?

- Am I ever going to use this (insert any random item here) again? Ever??

Ok, actually, that last question was usually said by me to Kim. The man is working on what I call his "Hording", I'll admit. But, damn. He has a lot of freakin' things! To his credit, he did toss a ton of stuff that he would have most likely never looked at again. Or at least in another 10 years.

Moving on....

So, the realtor stopped by to meet us and check out the house on Monday afternoon. She seemed to like the house, the yard, etc. She had a lot of good things to say. She kept mentioning how the house doesn't smell like "dog" at all, which "is a great testament to how clean the house is. "

Um. Thanks?

It's so weird, but I have actually heard many people say the same thing: Our house doesn't smell like dog. And, in all honesty, I've no idea what "dog" smells like. I have never walked into a house and thought:

Damn. This place straight up smells like dog, Dawg.

Is it because my friends and family keep clean houses? Or am I just used to the dog smell? I dunno. But, I guess it's a good thing.

Anyway, she is coming back tomorrow with specs and all that jazz to cover what she thinks what price we should list it at. It's gonna suck. Because, as she said, there are a ton of foreclosures out there and buyers can (and will) chose another house $50,000 or so cheaper, even if it needs a bit of work, instead of our super-clean, super-great, dog-smell-free house. So, we will definitely have to price this place much lower than before if we want to sell in a reasonable timeframe.

And that's the thing:
We NEED to move in a reasonable timeframe. We have to get into Kenosha by the end of Summer so the kids can be enrolled in school.

We'll see what she says tomorrow. But, in the meantime, any good house-selling juju you can send our way is really appreciated.

Fingers crossed!