Worn Out!

Hola! I continue to work to exhaustion preparing the house for sale. Hopefully the last of Kevin the Handyman's tasks will be finished on Monday (we'll see). He added another coat of drywall mud to the various drywall repairs and patches he did and on Monday, hopefully, he'll be able to sand what needs to be sanded and prime with "sand" texture primer. Mr. Don doesn't know it yet, but when he arrives for Christmas I'll be putting him to work painting! Kevin also has to finish the fence repair work. He has straightened out and stablized all of the leaning posts with metal reinforcing bars and has stripped off the broken and/or worn pickets. Now he has to put on the new pickets and also replace several post tops that have seen better days. He has to rehang a repaired corner door on one of my kitchen cabinets and then, the only thing left is to install a new range hood. Alas, I haven't purchased the replacement yet. But I will get to it soon - After Kevin left on Friday, about 2:30 in the afternoon I succumbed to temporary insanity and decided to put my bedroom from the north bedroom back to the much larger and freshly painted south bedroom, which was my original room that had been painted pink for 19 plus years until Kevin came to my rescue and did the job for me that I never got around to doing, with paint that I had purchased more than a year ago! The plan was to moved my mirrored six-drawer dresser from the north bedroom and the bed from the middle bedroom (which had been serving as the guest room) back to the south bedroom, where those pieces would join the orphaned night stand and chest of drawers; all would be en suite once again! Part 2 of the plan was to move the "new" dresser from the middle bedroom into the north bedroom, which would become the guest room (which it used to be before I switched everything around in preparation for painting that I never got around to doing). A swap-out of art work on the walls, window treatments and rugs would take place. Part 3 was to move the computer and three overflowing bookcases from the south bedroom back to their original home, the middle bedroom, and work on getting the wireless connection on my PC going again. I was happily huffing and puffing along, taking my time and getting a good work-out. I'd managed to wrestle the mattresses off the beds and the box springs too. I'd got the bedframe and headboard for my bed moved into the south bedroom. My dresser had been emptied of its drawers and had been shoved all the way from the north bedroom into the hall, turned and shoved into the south bedroom and then shoved into place along the wall. And then the phone rang. It was my broker. Could they do a showing on Saturday between 12 and 1 p.m.? I should have screamed NO - NO MORE SHOWINGS UNTIL AFTER JANUARY 1. But I was temporarily insane and so I said sure, I'll the rooms swapped out and ready by then. And so, what had begun as a leisurely way to get a good workout turned into a frantic rush to get the rooms switched around and presentable before noon the next day. I worked in 15 minute bursts with 2-3 minute rest periods in-between and got all major furniture pieces moved. There were important exceptions. First, I decided to pack up several of my old paperback books and clear shelf space for future purchases of research tomes. I packed three medium-size boxes and hauled them down to the garage. The rest of the stuff residing on those bookcases were stacked in piles on the bedroom floor and then I heaved each of the three bookcases into the middle bedroom. Second, although I emptied the new dresser of its drawers, I could not move it without removing the mirror (that had almost killed me when I'd moved it the last time as its weight came crashing down on me after I'd removed the last of four bolts fastening it to the back of the dresser) - given my prior experience I was not about to attempt that feat again, even while temporarily insane! But Kevin was coming the next day (Saturday), and I was going to draft him for assistance. I collapsed into my newly-located bed about 11:00 p.m. I awoke about 3:30 a.m. experiencing symptoms of what I can only describe as an anxiety attack. NOT pleasant. I took a blood pressure pill about 3 hours early and stretched out in the recliner in the family room (a favorite relaxing spot) and engaged in various mental exercises to calm my poor body down. It worked - sort of. I fell asleep with heartbeat still above normal but not frantically racing as it had been. I awoke about 7:15 a.m. - EEK! I was late! I'd meant to get up at 6 a.m. - but my clock radio alarm didn't reach my ears downstairs. I hit the ground running and didn't stop until my friend Ann picked me up shortly before noon, right after Kevin left the house (he arrived shortly after 10:00 a.m.) The rearranging of bedrooms and den/library was mostly finished! Kevin made short work of taking the mirror off of the new dresser, manhandling it into the north bedroom along the south wall and reattaching the mirror with a nifty little ratchet wrench (I've got to get me a set of those). I made up the bed, hung curtains, scoured out toilets and sinks, swept and vacuumed the ever-present drywall dust. I had time to change my shirt, brush my hair and slap some foundation on in a fruitless attempt to tone down my beet-red face, and then Ann and I were off to check out several hours I had on my list of prospects. Fortunately, the rest of the day was much more relaxing and fun. It is a blessing to have good friends. So - two viewings and no offers. I have received zero feedback from my broker. I don't care. I'm sure in this buyer's market there is a long list of what "potential" buyers don't like about Maison Newton (yard too big, too many trees too close to the house, mechanicals too old, appliances ready for the junk heap, roof too old, kitchen/dinette flooring too old, carpeting too old), etc. etc. I have no intention of buying new appliances, installing new flooring (other than the upstairs bathroom, which was all of 46 square feet, and replacement was planned before the house went on the market), new carpeting, new roof, and a new furnace and AC unit. I do not have to sell, and if this place doesn't go on my terms, I will happily go back to Plan A. And THEN, I will get new appliances, new flooring, new carpeting, top-notch rather than cut-rate and efficient "new" mechanicals and a new 25-year architectral style shingled roof! And I'll get quotes from Kevin the Handyman about doing crown moldings in some of the rooms and built-in shelving/bookcases! I'll post pics tomorrow. I took several of the new bathroom, only to discover that I did not have the memory card installed, and I'm too tired to re-take them tonight.