I like to feel that I am in control of something.  Ha.  I know, "are we really in control of anything in our lives?"  Since we have no definate dates for Paris, no apartment, no school, etc.  I thought I would kick it into high hear and start getting this house ready to lease.  I love "staging" a house for it's big debut.

I conquered the kitchen this weekend.  Can I tell you that Dan thought that our white cabinets were just faded a lovely yellow patina until I scrubbed them down?  It was pretty bad.  It took all afternoon but they look so shiny and happy now that all the grease and grime are off of their pretty faces.  I cleared all the counters and put some lovely unconventional knick knacks on top of them.  Everything looks so nice that I don't want to cook for fear of dirtying my sparkling kitchen.

Part of "staging" is taking down a large part of who you are so the new leaser can envision themself in your home. I had to take down the many pictures of Max and Sophie and our family.  There are a lot of bare walls at this point .  Some furniture has been removed and I  am on my way to lease this house.

I conceded and called a cleaning service because after a few days of trying to wipe down baseboards, walls and doors, I realize that I cannot tackle this house on my own.  I am lining up our window cleaning guy along with our gardener to trim every hedge and plant some new flowers.  Kind of late in the season to plant flowers, wouldn't you say?  As soon as all of this is complete, I will call a couple of realtors and have them walk through and tell me everything wrong with the house.

By the way, the kids are loving school and I was just fine today.  Happy to send them off to school and happy to pick them up.  Oh, one more thing, Dan woke this morning and told me that one of Maxwells fish died.  No kidding.  What is it with the Johnson's and pets?