First things first: stop the presses! Hold the phone! Wes and I are not selling our house right this second. Rather, we are considering selling it after the 1st of the brand-spankin-new-year. Why? I shall relay to you what our real-estate geniuses discussed with us and you can decide what you think may be the best course o’ action.
First of all, the real estate market is abysmal right now. It makes me ache for the halcyon days prior to home-ownership because there are some spectacular houses out there available for pennies (billions of pennies, that is). However, that availability of houses is made possible by the very staggering number of houses that are for sale right now and aren’t selling. For instance, there are currently, right now at this second, 10 houses for sale in a 5-mile radius that are comparable to our house. That means that if we listed our house for sale right now we’d be competing with 10 other houses, all of which have more upgrades than ours.
As you can see, people aren’t buying, home prices are dropping, and it’s a very hazardous time to try to sell a house. Wes and I need to recoup a certain amount from the sale of our house in order to garner a sizeable enough down payment to buy our next house. This means that we would really prefer not to drop the price of our house.
Our real-estate geniuses also had some suggestions for some cosmetic renovations. Apparently, softly faded light blue carpeting isn’t going to make the buyers go crazy. Go figure. Also, they recommended that our wrought iron stair railings, which are currently painted white, go. As you can see, these are very minor updates that will make a lot of difference. In a market that is this competitive it is vital that a) our house looks as good as it possibly can and b) when we put it out on the market it’s fresh and makes an impact. If we put out house on the market looking shabby (but cute!) in the middle of the holidays it will languish in anonymity and we will be lucky to have anyone interested enough to come see it.
Wes and I haven’t decided anything for sure yet (new carpet, new railings, when to list the house, blah blah blah) but we do know we’re going to something. Some would argue that that’s the hardest part…
On a slightly less “Grown Up Adult Talking About the Real Estate Market” note, Doc has been cleared for surgery! The testicle-removing surgery, that is. He is scheduled to become half the man-dog he used to be on November 30, 2007. I am excited (no, I’m not twisted. I just want him to be healthy and happy and this is really the last hurdle of puppyhood that he has to face) but I’m also nervous. We have to drop him off very early in the morning and he’s not allowed to eat breakfast.
I think that’s the part that makes me the most nervous. He’s a Lab! Without breakfast he may shrivel up and implode! He lives for his food! Also, if we starve him and then he has to go to the vet and get surgery he’s going to think he’s committed a canine felony, his poor little heart may just burst. I’m not looking forward to going to work that day at all. I just know that I’m going to cry when we drop him off (oh yes, Wes is coming with me. The last time I had to leave Doc at the vet {for X-Rays} I sobbed so hard I could barely talk. This time at least I won’t be driving).
Picking him up will hopefully be a joyous thing, though. He’s always happy to see us anyway but I figure after getting his balls chopped off he’s going to look at Wes and I and think “DELIVERANCE!!!!!!!!!!”.
One final note! I started my Christmas shopping today! I’m very proud of myself because I normally wait too long and then I can’t get anything shipped in time. Not this year! Our impending vacation has given me the impetus I need to not procrastinate. I have to get these suckers shipped and wrapped in 4 weeks which is no easy feat (last year the wrapping stage took a lot longer than it should have due to a prolonged Mylar incident. Never again!!!). It may be dark outside at 4:30 in the afternoon but the holiday spirit is burning bright here, baby!
This is a really common sight in our home: Wes and Doc practicing “passive restraint”. Wes holds Doc on his back until Doc calms down and relaxes completely. It really helps when we take Doc to the vet because he’s used to being restrained. I’m not saying he likes it but at least with practice it’s not torture. I think Wes likes doing the passive restraint, though, if only because holding Doc is like holding a huge, warm, fuzzy teddy bear that licks your face.
This, as promised, is a picture of Doc at the dog park. At this point, he’s just approached the water. He’s contemplating whether or not to go into the freezing water. He’s pretty sure the other dogs (that’s who he’s looking at) are having fun, he’s just not sure he wants anything to do with it.
Obviously, this is a picture of Doc retrieving a tennis ball from the watery depths. You can’t get a feel of it from this picture, but that’s the fierce gleam of satisfaction you see in his eyes that can only come from a retriever doing some retrieving.
Here’s another picture of him retrieving. I included it because I really like the way his fur looks underwater. After he got tired from all the swimming and hypothermia he went and antagonized some much larger dogs. He had a lot of fun barking at a Great Dane. The great huge beast just looked at Doc as if to say, “Honey, please”. Doc, never one to master the art of subtlety, just kept barking. He even tried to climb onto the dog’s back, which was hilarious. One of these days Doc is going to learn that he’s much smaller than he feels he ought to be. 
