Playing Catch-up

So much can happen in a week! We made the offer on the house, it was countered, we accepted the counter, had the inspection, and things are on track for us to close on July 17th!!! So now I'm packing, cleaning out, reminiscing while I clean (which considerably slows down the process!!), and then coming back to the den to work on lesson plans for one or more of the 4 different courses I'll be teaching this fall. I have a better idea now of the strengths and weaknesses of the students I will be teaching, so I'm making adjustments to my syllabi (I love that word!) and am doing a LOT of reading of new things for my classes, which means, of course, the end of "reading for fun" for a good while.

I'm also in organizational mode, and have at least three to do lists at any given time. Madeline will not be in school during July so I'll have to utilize my time at home with her to pack and sort without neglecting the longings of a 3 1/2 year old. I have BIG plans for her: the zoo, the Children's Museum, the park... and then of course, she will get to help me go through her old clothes and toys and decide what to donate to Goodwill. If I have to get rid of stuff, so does she. Granted, she doesn't have as many pairs of shoes as I do, but she beats me hands-down in the stuffed animal/doll department. And she's quickly developing her own library of children's books to rival mine.

Finally, I'm going to be shifting to Handy Jane mode in about 3 weeks. We are going to paint 3 bedrooms and a den and living room before moving in, as well as rip up the carpeting throughout the entire house. I've painted and ripped up carpet before, but not really on this scale. I just hope Patrick and I can handle it on our own in a 3 day weekend. There's also the removal of wallpaper to consider, and Patrick recently got me on camera promising to pull down all the wallpaper in the house (both bathrooms, the kitchen, one bedroom, the dining area, and a border in our room) but he'll have to do all the painting in those rooms. I've heard it can be a pain in the tukkus (which, one of the teachers at my new school tells me, is "Butt" in Yiddish!!), but am confident in my ability to channel all my aggressions into pulling that paper off the walls:) However, anyone with expertise in this area is welcome to give me advice or come help me out. I will not be renting a steamer-- the walls are drywall, and I don't want to damage them.

So I'm going from sitting around all summer to overdrive, but I'm not complaining. I can't wait to post pictures of the finished house!