A bump (or spill?) in the road . . .

Why are we always encountering speed bumps?! Ugh. I really want to just scream.

Neil's mom took the kids for the weekend -- bless her. So we have all day today and half of tomorrow to work on the house and for me to work on my photography. Our realtor suggested we do some facade work on the house, like painting the entry and windows, just making it as pristine as we can make it. So Neil got paint this morning to paint the entry and windows.

I was in the dungeon (a.k.a. basement) working when I heard a crash. I honestly wasn't sure what to think. Just a few seconds later Neil comes in the back door and yells down at me, "I need help!". I hurried up there. He had fallen off the ladder.

Of course my remark was "that is why you don't do things like that alone" in my mother voice because of course we had been over that a gizzillion times (just like a mother and her child . . . not sure that is a good thing, but anyway . . . ). Luckily he didn't hit his head, but what if he would have? I don't even want to think about it. He did hit his elbows and butt on the concrete steps and was pretty shaken up. Otherwise, I think he is okay.

I knew I would walk to the front to find paint all over. I thought I'd find a big spill but instead, I'm not sure if this is better or worse?, I find splatters of paint everywhere. The side of the house, the ladder, our landscaping -- 3 of my planters and two of the bushes, not to mention the mulch, the sidewalk and steps, and, of course, Neil.

Ok, now tell me how ironic this picture is. Here we are trying to make the entry pristine, hoping to give potential buyers the best first impression, and instead, now we have this entry way that looks so much worse than it did before all because of, I guess, an unfortunate moment of bad luck. But just wait. It turns into a day of bad luck . . .

So we scurry to do our best to clean this up, all the while Neil ignores his bloody elbows . . . poor guy! We get out hoses and try using the spray nozzles to clean it off. I think we have the least powerful nozzles in the entire world. Really, I do. Um, note to file, spend more than .99 on a nozzle next time you need one. There's a reason folks as to why there are so many different kinds of nozzle heads and cost such a wide array of prices! Needless to say, it didn't work except maybe a teeny tiny bit. It's 86 degrees here. The paint dried so quickly that most of it is still there shiny bright white on concrete for all to see how bad of painters we are. Sigh.

Neil then tells me to go back and work. So I do. I walk to the dungeon to the sound of dripping water. The water that we so diligently sprayed, had seeped into the step and into my office (which of course resides right under those steps!). Water (and not just plain ol water, but white paint water) was all over everything. Ruined my album mats (about $100 worth) and soaked two of my lights (I pray they aren't ruined). The floor is soaked (with white stains now) and a huge pile of receipts and bills were ruined with water. They're now drying. We'll see what I can recover.

Oh my, oh my, oh my.

When Neil found out about my stuff getting ruined he said a few not-so-nice words about the house. I think this was the final straw for Neil. We've both realized that there's no double-guessing the decisions we've made. It's time to get out and time to get out now.

Our realtor called this morning and even though we aren't technically on the market till Wednesday, she needs to show the house tomorrow. We are hoping and praying that maybe we will "sell" before we are even on the market. How great would that be. Will you send some prayers up for us? Maybe the realtor "having" to show the house is a Godsend.

Off to work some more. I just had to "vent", so thank you. I really do feel much better as I sit here with water still seeping in. They (the neighbor -- bless our dear friend, Randy [!] and Neil) are pressure washing the front now. Neil feels like it's better to clean off the front of the house than try and save this area of the "dungeon". I do agree. So I just sit, do my computer work and listen to the sounds of glorious seepage . . . "drip, drip, dripdripdrip, drip, drip, dripdripdripdripdrip" . . . You get the picture.