Now, pretend that you are also 30 weeks pregnant. Lots of energy. Usually in a great mood.
Add to this thought exercise the unexpected goal of packing your house to move in three weeks.
Now, what does your house probably look like? Fantastic, right? And guess what else is happening? People are starting to COME LOOK AT YOUR HOUSE to decide if they want to live there.
Well, color me motivated to stack all the boxes neatly along the walls, (have my husband) vacuum the box-debris and diaper lint from the carpets, and investigate the condition of the toilets. It will take all my self-restraint not to follow the prospective tenant and our wonderful landlord around the house explaining why there's no bedspread on the guest bed (and why it's currently sans bed frame), the obsessive-looking stacks of baby clothing bins lining that room, and of course this:
Yes, friends, we have made it two years without scribbling on the walls and yet a month before we move out, a short week before we roll out the welcome mat for house showings, one of our darling children grabbed a dry erase marker and unleashed his inner Picasso (I'm assuming it was a man-child, no particular reason). I am so stoked for the paint job that I now have ahead of me. Actually, we were going to paint this section of wall anyway because as you can see, it was previously unfinished. Our plan had been to paint it with whiteboard paint, but I hadn't yet taken the plunge (for some reason that felt like a big commitment? Having moved four times in our eight years of marriage, I guess I have a hard time committing to a wall. Issues.).
So what could have been a leisurely return to paint a small patch of wall, perhaps even after we move out, by someone non-pregnant, has now become a "Shoot, Joel, can you run to Walmart for a paint roller after the kids go to bed so I can paint this before the showing tomorrow?"
Just a guess - my "Conscientiousness" scale would be just a bit high on a Big Five personality assessment. That's the one measuring, basically, perfectionism and sense of responsibility to others. Possibly also "Neuroticism". But hey I'm also highish on "Openness to new experiences" so at least I'm a good time at parties. And I feel obligated to clean up afterwards!
Totally unrelated note: you know what's a great idea? Applying a coat of paint at 9:00 p.m., observing black marker clearly through the first coat, and THEN reading the label that says, "Wait four hours before recoating". Huh. Doing the math, that roughly means I'm an idiot and/or going to be very tired tomorrow. Also there is barely enough paint left for the recoat, so forget about pouring it back into the can, washing out the roller, and recoating tomorrow morning. Also, I have this thing about drop cloths being for wimps, but thankfully that one hasn't come back to bite me just yet.
Also mostly unrelated: The best husband ever came home with not just a paint roller, but also snickerdoodles and peanut butter cookies. He speaks my love language. And no, I do not have any idea why my babies are always over 8 pounds at birth, why do you ask?
I did manage to get a second coat on the wall just an hour later, though it required tilting the paint tray back and forth to spread the puddles of paint enough to cover my roller again. I like to live on the edge like that - close calls and late-night excitement. The wall looks great! And it's juuuust warm enough that I can crack the bathroom windows this morning to freshen them up before the walk through. Let's just say that'll help the house to show better. A cloth diaper pail in a closed-up bathroom all winter can leave one, shall we say, looking forward to some air circulation.
In all seriousness, we're praying for the right tenants to come along behind us. We've been so blessed by this home the past two years, and by our sweet landlord, that we sincerely hope to leave it a little better than we found it and that the next family here is a delight for her as well. Although I'm not sure she'll find any *cuter* tenants than the two currently occupying the second upstairs bedroom.
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