"This is a big decision!"

We'll we've finally picked a realtor and received quotes on the yard work needed to make this place look a bit nicer. One landscaper quoted us $750 and the next quoted us $1450. Steve says we are in the wrong business! Good thing the company gives us a relocation stipend. Seems it's all going to be spent shipping pets, buying clothes, and paying for home repairs. They calculate this out quite well.

Steve seems pretty stressed. He spent 1.5 hrs in one store trying on dress shoes. He walked up and down the store and leaned from side to side in each pair. He even put two different shoes on each foot to compare each one to the other (You know you've done it...). After an hour I told him I really needed to leave to get some things. I tried on clothes, bought some stuff, called him, and found he was still in the same store. In fact, I found him exactly where I left him but with 3 chairs full of shoe boxes as he was pulling another off of the shelf to try on. He even asked the sales woman if he could have a trial period. She said he couldn't return them if he wore them outside. Imagine his disappointment.

I told him if he liked this pair or that pair, just buy them! "This is a big decision," he said. I told him, "No, it's not. It's SHOES!" I think so many things are happening at once that he is struggling with making decisions in general. He went shopping again today while running some other errands. "These or these?" he says (see below). "Ross" and I agreed... the ones on the right. Yes? I think he did pretty well, especially considering his level of stress. Hopefully it made him feel better to obtain nice shoes that aren't 7 years old.

Picking a company to sell your house in short amount of time is a bit rough.

I called him this morning after discussing with my mom how we should make this decision. I liked one company because of some of the things they do, but I decided to suggest the other company because they have many houses in the area (my mom and I suspected they would often be in the area showing houses). Moreover, the realtor was very aggressive. He called Steve a couple of times trying to set up a meeting time with me since I missed his meeting with Steve. My mom said, "Maybe he'll bug somebody enough to make them move quicker on the house." Steve wanted to review their market analyses, webpages, and ratings again. "Let's lay everything out on the table."

 "Steve," I said, "We don't have time to spend 3 weeks bantering back and forth and analyzing all of this for weeks!" He is very calculating in his decision making process, and I'm very "go with it". Guess we balance each other out.  He said, "This is a big decision!" I told him, "No, it's really not! They all do the same thing. The decision is really just based on personal preference." In the end he decided to go with who I originally suggested. I told him that if he would just acknowledge that I'm right in the beginning (insert sarcasm), life would be so much easier. :o)  Prepare yourself for strenuous teamwork if you are embarking on this same journey. Keyword here though: TEAMWORK.

HOUSE HUNTING

We leave in October for our house hunting trip. We will be there for 7 days. The company is flying us business class! I've never been in anything but coach. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited. Hopefully we can find some good places to eat while we are there. Oh and guess what I did. I e-mailed House Hunters International last night and provided our information and photos. HAHA! It would be so crazy if they actually called me! I'll let you know what happens.

This weekend will be busy. We are hosting a party here for local family and friends. We have to get our cars cleaned and posted for sale. However, our neighbor said he is interested in both! We need to start packing up "clutter" to get our house ready for sale (or maybe we'll rent it. We still haven't decided what would be best.) We have to gather things for our Visas. They want many bits of information including shot records, copies of passports, original passports, professional passport photos, and our original marriage license or birth certificates. Our plate is very full, but I know God will help us carry it.

Scottish word of the day from my cultural awareness book: "knackered" .... It means exhausted and is the perfect word to end this blog today.