https://www.arhaus.com/furniture/living-room-furniture/sectional-sofas/landsbury-145-inch-three-piece-upholstered-right-sectional-in-theater-gunsmoke/ I bought this sectional for a little less at the Arhaus outlet. It is beautiful and comfortable. I think it will last a long time.

Around $5500. After insurance our out-of-pocket cost was around $3000-$3500.

Isis. She was named before the terrorist group was widely known, of course. It is just unfortunate to have that association.

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Do you live in Akron? My daughter spilled Gatorade all over the library's copy that I had checked out. Now I have a red, sticky book that I paid lots of money for, but that doesn't spark joy.

Our last buyer did include a letter with her offer. She explained why our house was a good fit for her family. She also said that when she walked into the house she "heard angels sing". This seemed so sappy, almost manipulative. But I recently got to meet her in person and she was still gushing about the house, even 3 years later. So it was all good. We wrote a letter to our seller, but gave it to her after closing. We wanted to communicate our love for the house, but wanted to settle the business stuff first.

Hmmm. I don't have a general positive impression of the USPS. I ship a lot of orders by Priority Mail. I like the reasonable prices, but they do make a LOT of mistakes. Last Christmas they misplaced an entire carton with 50+ orders for over a week! That was the worst. I love UPS. Have had consistently exceptional service with from UPS. And although I ship many orders with FedEx I am largely indifferent to them. I'm not sure why. They are as efficient as UPS. Maybe I've never had friendly, personal service from their delivery drivers?

I have 5 kids ages 6 to 17. Our chore chart works pretty well. It is an elaborate chart, but it rarely changes so the kids don't even need to look at it. I think the most important aspect of our chore chart is that it stays the same for a long period of time, like 6 months to a year. Changing chores every week stresses me out. Checking things off seems stressful and unnecessary. Rewarding them with treats or allowance doesn't work for me. I don't like inspecting things when they are done. But when I stumble across something that hasn't been cleaned properly or a trash can not emptied or whatever, I know just who is responsible and I'll ask them to go take care of it. When we homeschooled, I had the kids do their chores right after breakfast. Now that everyone is in private school, I have them do chores right after dinner. It doesn't take them long. If you are interested in specifics, here you go: Anna is 17. Every day she empties the kitchen trash. (She does her own laundry as needed.) Monday she does kitchen (clears table, wipes table, empties dishwasher, loads dishwasher, wipes counter). Tuesday she tidies her room if needed, then vacuums her room and an adjacent hall. Wednesday she vacuums my bedroom. Thursday she has kitchen again. Friday she cleans the half bath. Saturday she vacuums the basement. Andrew is 15. Every day he sets the table before dinner (the only job not done after dinner!). (He does his own laundry as needed.) Monday he cleans the basement bathroom. Tuesday he does kitchen. Wednesday he tidies his room and vacuums his room and rest of basement. Thursday he swiffers all hardwood on main floor. Friday he does kitchen. Saturday he vacuums rugs on main floor. Graham is 13. Every day he folds and puts away his clean laundry (I do the laundry and have it sorted in the laundry room). Every day he gathers up dirty laundry from hampers. Monday he cleans kids bathroom. Tuesday he swiffers the kitchen. Wednesday he does kitchen. Thursday he tidies his room, then vacuums his room and his little sister's room. Friday he swiffers kitchen again. Saturday he does kitchen. Elijah is 9. Every day he folds and puts away his clean laundry, plus clean kitchen towels. Every day he empties multiple trash cans throughout the house. Monday he vacuums the family room. Tuesday he swiffers hardwood in family room. Wednesday he cleans the kids' bathroom. Thursday he vacuums family room again. Friday he helps his older brother with kitchen. Saturday he tidies and vacuums his bedroom. Grace is 6. Every day she sweeps under kitchen counter. Every day she empties recycling. Every day she folds and puts away her own laundry. Some other thoughts: When the kids are younger, I don't change their jobs each day of the week. They do the exact same thing each day. It is easy for them to remember. It is also more obvious/visual stuff, so I know right away if they are skipping jobs. When they are little I don't want them tempted to lie to me about their jobs. My expectations for cleaning bathrooms gets more detailed as they get older. Little kids who clean bathrooms are just spraying and wiping the sink and counter. Middle sized kids will do floors too. Bigger kids are also doing toilets and mirrors. No one can handle tubs and showers, so that falls to me. They all grow up with the idea that their laundry and their rooms are their responsibility. As they get older, they take more thorough responsibility in those areas.

1st- girl, 8 lbs. 3 oz at 41 weeks 2nd- boy, 10 lbs. 3 oz at 41 weeks 3rd- boy, 11 lbs. 8 oz. at 41 weeks 4th- boy, 7 lbs. 3 oz. at 40 weeks 5th- girl, 8 lbs. 14 oz. at 40 weeks

We bought an iComfort by Serta six months ago. It is wonderful! It was crazy expensive, but we love it. Don't be shy about testing out the mattresses. My husband took a 30 minute nap in the middle of the mattress section of the furniture store. :)

:iagree: This is true in my husband's field. His first three job interviews were ones where he was flown in for 3 days, wined and dined, and then didn't get a job offer.

We really enjoy it when there are larger groups of kids or adults at our house. It is a fun, social activity. But my kids rarely use the Kinect at any other time.

My dh pulled the fire alarm just recently because he smelled gas at the university where he works. So everyone had to vacate the building while they checked the situation. That made a lot of people grumpy... but it was the right thing to do.

My biggest baby was 11 lb 8 oz and he is still very big for his age. But for my other kids their birth weight was not an indicator of future weight. The 7 pounder and 10 pounder are quite skinny now. The two 8 pounders are of average weight. I see more of a relationship between my poor eating habits while pregnant and higher birth weight.

We have a contract and should close on the 30th. After coming down $20,000 in our asking price, we finally hit the magic number. We got three offers in one week. They were all very low offers, but we worked with the best of them and came to an agreement. This week we are arranging for a few repairs called for by the inspection. So thankful to be nearing the end!

I'm so sorry! That just stinks. Especially when it was a small thing and you were willing to fix it. I remember our buyer's agent telling us that we could change our minds and get out of the contract at any time. That was nice when we were the buyers. Now as seller those words are haunting me. We moved into our new house about 4 weeks ago. We are really enjoying it. Our old house is still for sale. There was a couple last week that said they were going to make an offer. After five days of waiting, we just got the word from their realtor that they won't be buying a house until October after they get married. So that's that.

So happy for you! This is wonderful news. Let us know what happens.

Sounds promising! Three showings in one day is really good. At that pace, you won't be home long enough to get anything dirty. :) A buyer like that sounds like a lot of trouble, but it may work out yet. The first offer we made on our new house was pretty low. Given the poor real estate market it seemed we had to start low. You just never know how desperate people are. Your high counter offer will give the message that you aren't wanting to negotiate. Then you'll find out if they are serious or not. Best of luck to everyone!

Kokotg, your kitchen looks great! I feel sure you will sell quickly now. We only had one showing last week. We dropped our price $10,000 midweek, but still no activity. I suppose that is because of the holiday. We have two showing scheduled this week. I'm so tired of cleaning! Don't really have the motivation to get ready for tomorrow's showing....

It sounds like a definite no (and we had been their first choice). I told my kids the lesson to be learned here is that they shouldn't listen to their parents. My daughter's quick reply- "I didn't plan to." :001_smile:

The parents didn't like our house. :confused: Ugh.

The couple that saw our house twice came back today for a third time. I guess they wanted to show their parents. I don't think we are the only possible house though. They have at least one other that they are considering. We should hear soon if we are their first choice. I guess they really like our house, but don't like the junk in the neighbor's yard. I've never cared for it either...

Fantastic house! I hope everything works out. I've heard that banks don't like long closing dates...

Someone is coming back for a second showing this morning. Woo hoo! Praying we get an offer.

We had two showings yesterday. One of them lasted an hour longer than scheduled, so it seems like they are interested. We have another showing this morning and then one on Monday. So after 3 weeks of no activity people are finally looking at the house. I know it will be a hard sell since we are on a main road with lots of traffic, but I'm glad we are finally getting showings. :)