No Average Mom

For the most part my family is fairly neat and tidy. We do tend to go through spurts of messiness from time to time. I don’t know what happens but it seems like everyone seems to collectively forget that they aren’t living in a hotel in Vegas. There is laundry stacked knee deep in the basement and toys strewn from one end of the house to the other. I have to remind myself that underneath the clutter things really are clean. The chaos of it all does wear on me. Maybe, I need to send them all a bill for “housekeeping” since they seem to think I am the maid at this hotel.

In preparation for shopping for a new home we have started to make a list of things we want versus things we need. One thing that is an absolute must is to have our own private driveway. Currently, we have a shared driveway which has been a huge hassle this last year. The good thing is that my husband and I are on the same page for most of these things. We would love to find a home with one of those tankless water heaters but it isn’t a deal breaker. Having two bathrooms is almost a must have item. We are finding that getting the entire family out the door on time can be a real pain with just one bathroom. For the most part our needs are very simple. A bit of land in a quiet area is all we really need at this point. After the chaos of living in this neighborhood sharing a bathroom is a small price to pay for regaining your sanity.

Selling a house is completely foreign to me. I really think that we are going to need to do some homework before putting our house on the market. When we bought our house it was completely empty. Even the windows were barren of curtains. There was no question whether the light fixtures or appliances came with the house. Trying to sell your house while you are still living there seems like it could really be a hassle. For instance, will everyone looking at the house assume that stuff like the curtains or the porch swing come with the house? There are so many things to think about it makes my head spin. We are trying to get everything possible out of the house so there won’t be a question but some things just have to stay in order to continue living here as long as possible.

This weekend proved to be quite productive despite the bad weather. We were able to accomplish quite a bit more in terms of purging our attic of unnecessary items. The goal is that we will put our house up for sale this spring. Should the house sell we will likely live with family for a short time while we very carefully look for a new home. Because our stuff will be going into storage we are being very liberal with what we get rid of. The only thing I can see being a problem will be when the time comes to purge the basement. Our basement is essentially tool storage for all of the endless collection of “toys” my husband has amassed in our 16 plus years of marriage. Asking him to part with any of these items will be like pulling teeth. Mind you some of these things are still in the box they came in many years ago. We may need a separate storage locker just for him when it is all said an done.

Our 8 year old is an amazing kid. He knows stuff that just astounds me when I hear it coming out of his young mouth. The other day he asked me about the things I was interested in. When I was done telling him I asked about what he was currently really interested in. He informed me that he wants to start a club at school to work to save the rain forest because it is in danger. He went one step further to suggest that we become more environmentally aware in our house. Aside from recycling his other plans for our home include buying different eco products that are environmentally safe. The funny thing was when I suggested he be put in charge of rinsing out the various things he wants to recycle he suggested that “maybe” I should be in charge of that job.

In between loads of laundry today I decided to do a little self assessment and spend a few minutes looking in the mirror. What I found was not entirely objectionable. Having lost a good twenty pounds in the last years I certainly feel more confident in what I wear. My clothes definitely hang better than they once did. No longer am I drawn to long tops and bulky layers. There are certain things like my “mummy tummy” that will always be there to some degree but that is a badge of honor in my humble opinion. It felt good to not walk away from my inspection and feel like beating myself up afterward or run for the nearest box of cookies.

About a month ago I began taking courses to prepare me for starting my own small business. I have always wanted to have my own business. Working for myself from home, for the last year, has given me a really good taste of just how much of a market there is for specific types of small businesses. While building up my skill base I have begun looking into various services I will need to make my business a success. One thing that will be essential is a high quality telephone system. At first the costs of such services really put me off thinking there was no way I could afford a great service and also get a business off the ground. Then I discovered Talkswitch. Talkswitch is one of the many business phone services and solutions offered by Neobits.

Talkswitch is a feature packed service that can truly be customized to fit the individual needs of each business. No matter how small a business offering customers all the luxury of a much bigger phone system is completely possible. In my case this will be ideal considering the business staff will initially consist of just me. Having a great phone system will definitely help to free me up to attend to other aspects of building my business.

Talkswitch is one of the 15 brands of small business phone systems such as Avaya, Panasonic, NEC, Talkswitch, Allworx, and Epygi. Neobits works with each business on an ongoing basis to ensure that all phone systems needs are met today and into the future as the business grows and changes. Neobits offers nationwide local phone system installation and support for both VoiP and dial-up phone systems. To date over 3,000 customers across the nation have made Neobits their choice for small business phone systems which is very reassuring as I begin to plan the launch of my business.

What is it about men and YouTube? What is it about watching people make fools of themselves for hours on end that is enlightening or entertaining? If you know please enlighten me because I have completely had it with this programming and all discussions of it. A grown man could certainly come up with a better way to spend his time instead of staring blanking at a computer screen all night. Especially considering all the chaos in our lives right now. We have a home to get packed and ready to sell. His wife has classes she needs to find time to work on in the midst of working part-time and raising children. There is discount furniture to be found to replace the worn out items we recently gave away. Most of all there are little boys who need quality one on one time instead of a view of the back of his head. Granted this isn’t the way it goes in my house but if it were this is how I would be feeling right now!