Other than for stuff like art and music....5th grade. That was when they started getting us ready for middle school by having us go to separate teachers for reading, math, and social studies (IIRC, there were 3 5th grade teachers and each had her own specialty.

Haven't checked in in awhile because we've been busy moving (moved in here on Monday. surrounded by boxes). But....we got an offer today! Hooray! It's a pretty good one, too....we're countering, but we're not going up too much over what they offered. We sent a proposal over to the lease purchase people on Monday and still haven't heard back from them, but now I'm really, really glad we didn't! I'm so glad not to have it hanging over our heads for months. So not a lease purchase, and it's a better offer than the one that fell through awhile back, too. Now we just have to see how the counter-offer thing goes, but I don't see any reason we won't be able to come to an agreement since we're already so close. Then just the inspection and financing have to come through okay, and we're finished! Yay!

Thanks, guys--keep 'em coming! I forgot about Mythbusters...good call! They watched something about Mt. Everest today, but I have two more "school" days before we move, so I'm putting some of the other suggestions in my queue!

We're moving this weekend, so I'm packing furiously (and can do this faster when kids don't help!) I need a good, at least vaguely educational, Netflix suggestion. Kids are 6, 8, and 10. Any subject is fine. Ideas?

I start packing that far in advance. Sounds like you hire someone to pack for you, though....I've never done that. I think people are talking about packing themselves. As for the OP, I think it would be unreasonable of them to ask you to take pictures down. I also think that, assuming you have a good relationship with them, it would be reasonable of you to do it to help them out (since you're moving anyway, would need to pack them at some point, and won't need to pull them all back out and rehang them until after you move).

Allergies? Headaches are one of my 6 year old's biggest allergy symptoms. My 10 year old get seasonal headaches (fall and spring) that go away when he takes zyrtec or allegra regularly, but he swears he doesn't have allergies ;)

Oh dear. The people who want the house but need to sell theirs just sent us a letter (through our agent)....it made me cry. All about how much they love the house and can see their boys growing up here. They want to do a lease purchase so they can either sell their house or rent it out and save up for a down payment. Sigh. It struck exactly the right tone....well written. Not desperate, just, "we really love the house and don't want to miss out on it." But I don't WANT to do a lease purchase. But they seem so nice! They're about to have their second little boy! I'm such a sucker. Anyway. We have to talk about it. The letter is very short on actual numbers. And we have another showing at 11:30 today. So maybe they'll make an offer and we won't have to worry about the lease purchase!

Hope it all goes smoothly! I'm always a little amazed at how many people put everything off to the last possible second (and beyond!) when they're moving. Ooh, I kind of do! I love it...that style is so much fun! and, you know, so is the beach. Congratulations to everyone who's gotten offers lately. I feel like I'm going to be the only one left soon! We close on the new house tomorrow, and then move in not this weekend but next. If we get beyond that and don't have an offer yet, we have to decide if we're ready to think about a lease purchase. I might be getting there. Still lots of traffic (although no showings the past couple of days), still good feedback, but still no offers. We heard the people who looked on Friday want it but have to sell their house first....and it's been for sale for 6 months already. Sigh. I feel like we've been listed forever, but really it's only been 2 months...and 2 months in this market for a house that we already knew appeals to a certain kind of person and not to everyone isn't really all that long.

I gave him an antique map of Boston, which is, umm, still sitting in a closet, waiting to be framed, nearly 13 years later. He gave me a new lens for my camera.

We just did butcher block (from Ikea). I love it. Much cheaper than granite.

Our income probably wouldn't qualify us for middle classedness (DH is a high school teacher; last I checked we would still qualify for WIC, based on income), but I feel middle class because of our educational/socio-economic backgrounds and because we have financially secure extended family that gives us a safety net a lot of people don't have. I also kind of feel like a socio-economic mutt sometimes, though...both because of the whole highly educated yet poorly paid thing, and because I've got grandparents from very different socio-economic backgrounds. So I guess I think of middle class as too complicated to define solely with income. Although I guess it's not so much for the purposes of qualifying for financial aid/paying for college.

Yay! Fingers crossed for smooth sailing from here to the closing! Frustrating! I know exactly how you feel...our new house has tons of cosmetic upgrades (granite and new cabinets in the kitchen, etc)....and I'm about to pay $11,000 for two new HVAC units for it. I keep thinking how much I wished they'd put the money into new HVACs so I could spend the $11,000 on doing the kitchen exactly how I want instead. Or spend $5000 and save the rest! Today's our first day since Saturday without at least one showing, but no offers yet. We've heard about one person already planning to come this weekend. And we came home the other night to a dead refrigerator! Bleh. So now I have a brand new one and I'm $1000 poorer. The fridge at the new house works but looks to be pretty old, so we're hoping to take this one with us (the disclosure doesn't list the fridge as part of the sale, but we've always figured it's open to negotiation). I guess it's better it died now than if we had a contract that included the fridge...then we would have had to replace it with no chance of getting to keep it or negotiate for more money for leaving it. I'm very annoyed at how short appliance lifespans are nowadays. The fridge was 9 years old, and we'd already spend a couple of hundred dollars on a big repair last year. Grr....Ah, well, my new one is shiny and pretty at least.

Well...hope it works out...one way or the other! It makes me nervous when people go in asking for a bunch of stuff, too...what are they going to do after the inspection? We were supposed to have THREE more showings today! Last people didn't show, but there was a pretty nasty hail storm coming through right when they were supposed to be here, so I wasn't surprised. The first two people came and both took one of the booklets with the seller's disclosure, etc. in it. We've heard we're a maybe for the people who looked last night, too. So....promising stuff.

Ugh! What a stressful situation all around! How far away is your DH? I know what you mean...I'd love to see a young family move in here, too! Although, seven weeks in, I'm not going to be picky :) We had a showing scheduled for 5-6 today. We got home at 10 til 6, and they were still here. They didn't leave until 6:30! I have no idea what time they got here, but a minimum of 40 minutes looking at the house...seems like they must be interested, right? I saw them on the porch; they had a baby and a toddler :) I texted my agent and said I thought maybe they'd already moved in :D and another showing tomorrow morning...let the bidding war begin! (or, you know, let at least one of them like it enough to make a decent offer!)

showing this evening, and another one tomorrow! yay--three days in a row!

Wow--that was fast! Fingers crossed that it's a good offer :)

We've had some of the same experiences...I feel like this is a great house for a family, but a lot of potential buyers are older...childless couples, retirees, etc. I think our no HOA thing might appeal to some older people...people with boats or RVs or whatever. And I know what you mean....I've been so busy dealing with two houses that I haven't had much time to get nostalgic....but now that it's spring here and my woods look SO pretty and green, I find myself thinking more about how I'm going to miss it. I brought two babies home here, and the oldest was so little when we moved in he doesn't remember anywhere else. I love the new house, and I'm excited about something different, but our lot here is kind of a dream yard for three boys...tree fort in the woods, a creek to play in, trails through the woods to the bigger creek, a yard full of chickens until very recently... We're going to have to do a lot of work to make the new yard nearly as interesting :D And I keep being surprised no one thinks we're crazy for moving before we sell this house. It's reassuring, I guess. Last time we took this big of a risk financially was when we moved HERE....from Boston, to be near family; DH hadn't found a job yet, and I was 7 months pregnant with DS8. And THAT worked out pretty well, anyway. /ramble no feedback from today's showing yet. Hoping for a lot of traffic this week!

nothing here yet!

Showing today! Fingers crossed! I'm kind of over this house selling thing. It's not the flood of showings I'd hoped for when people saw our new price/kitchen, but it's something. It only takes one, right? Hope everyone else's weekend is full of house-y activity!

Thank you! that was quick! Hope it's a sign of good things to come! Price drop and new pictures yesterday....they're slow to show up on various sites, though....realtor.com still has the old pictures and the old price, I think, as does Zillow. some local sites have all the new information. so, anyway, trying not to worry that we haven't been flooded with calls yet :). I keep checking our competition....we're the only non foreclosure or short sale with 4 bedrooms in our school district under 150. some of the short sales/foreclosures have a good bit more square footage, but not nearly as much land and they're on slabs instead of basements. So we just need one person who prefers privacy and/or woods and not dealing with an HOA over square footage in a cookie cutter house on a postage stamp sized lot. Can you tell which I would (did?) pick? :D We do have a very finishable basement, so that potentially helps with our square footage shortfall, too. That's what we would have done had we stayed here.

I had/have a Grammy and a Grandma. DH had a Nana and a Grandma. My mom is Gigi (pronounced with hard Gs)

I'm glad the listing was finally corrected, at least, Saille! Hope things pick up this weekend, now that everyone knows they have somewhere to park their car at your house :) We had a no show this morning....or, more precisely, apparently (according to the agent's response to our agent when she asked why they didn't show up) they drove by and decided they didn't like the look of it from the outside so they didn't come in. It would be helpful to me if they'd do their drive-by BEFORE scheduling the appointment and making me drag kids and pets out of the house for an hour in the middle of our school day, thanks. I'm just saying. But we STILL haven't posted the kitchen pics or done the price drop. My agent is having someone who works for her husband come out and pressure wash for us tomorrow. We actually DID pressure wash before we listed it, honest we did, but we borrowed my brother's pressure washer and did it ourselves, and apparently we didn't do a good enough job. Anyway, so she wants to wait until that's done then post all the new pictures at once and drop the price. I'm getting antsy, because I really want people to see it for weekend house hunting. DH keeps saying stuff like, "I have really high hopes for this weekend!" I kind of wish he'd stop, because I'm trying very hard NOT to get MY hopes up too much. ETA: thanks for the kind words about the kitchen, everyone--hoping potential buyers are just as impressed :)

I might be the one who posted pictures :). I've just had mine (they're from Ikea) for a week now, but here's my preliminary report: they're really pretty; I LOVE the way they look. They do seem kind of high maintenance compared to some surfaces, though. they can scratch or dent fairly easily (which I wouldn't really be too concerned about if we were staying....adds character! but I'm being super careful with them since we're selling the house). I don't think you're supposed to set hot stuff on them, and you have to be careful to keep them dry. I put a million layers of sealant on them and I've been retreating them with mineral oil, and I've noticed that water is beading up on them now, so it seems like as long as you keep them oiled (I've read that it's good to apply a coat every week or so) and them wipe them dry when they get wet they should be fine. It's still what I'd pick if I were doing it for me, though...WAY cheaper than granite or even corian, and so pretty.

:iagree: Using "Christian" as shorthand for "creationist" or "fundamentalist" or what have you is a pet peeve of mine.

New kitchen pics aren't in the listing yet, but here's one I took just for you guys :) kitchen2 by kokotg, on Flickr