Dear Previous Owner

Well, we are somewhat moved and into our new house.  Now I just need to get the tree up and get a few things ready in order to be good to celebrate Christmas in our new home!  Just to give you a bit of insight as to why I’ve been MIA the past few weeks (plus it’ll feel good to vent some of this):

Dear Previous Home Owner,

• When they give you a closing date on your house, it really isn’t a suggested day to move out.  A closing date means that you are expected to have all of your junk out of the house. 
   
• Common courtesy is to clean your house before moving out and handing it over to the buyers.  I am not asking you to get down on your hands and knees and scrub the floor; however, removing moldy food from the refrigerator or getting the hair off of the toilet would be a start.
   
• I am not sure if you think that my throwing potatoes onto the snow in the backyard will make them grow or what, but generally I have seen potatoes used for eating.  That means that you keep them in the house, cook them when you are ready to eat them, and then consume them.  If you didn’t want them, there is a trash can provided by the city for you to dispose of them.
   
• If you place things up in the attic, it’d probably be a good idea to remember that you had them there.  If you hadn’t missed them at all in the past two years or when you moved out, then maybe you shouldn’t have wasted your time putting them up there to begin with.
   
• Why did you find it necessary to store 2 tons of firewood under the stairs in the house (nothing screams that you want termites louder than that)?  The excuse that the firewood was there when you bought the house two years ago doesn’t impress me.  It actually makes me think you are even a bigger fool for leaving it there that much longer.
   
• The wood burning stove in the basement is not a trash can; therefore, please throw your trash from the basement away in a trash can rather than shoving it in the wood burner to hide it.
   
• Have you ever owned a vacuum?  The fact that it took us over an house to vacuum up all of the hair and lint in the laundry / store room was a bit disgusting.  I am sure your dog has had some major hairballs as a result of this lack of vacuuming. 
   
• Using spray paint to cover a spot in the bedroom that had been patched doesn’t mean that you have the room repainted.  Generally repainting a room requires actual paint (like the type that comes in a gallon),  a roller, and some effort. 
   
• When you wait until the day that you are moving out to replace the ceiling tiles in the basement bathroom that you promised to replace a month earlier, I understand that you aren’t going to do the best job.  I do expect you, though, to cut out the heat vent instead of just covering it up with a tile and hoping that it didn’t start fire before you were out of the house.
   
• Although we really appreciate the time that you spent painting white clouded stripes on the blue ceiling, the room kind of made our heads spin. 
   
• Did someone really tell you that a bright gold master bedroom and a putrid green master bath looked good and went together?
   
• The pool of dog / cat urine underneath the refrigerator really didn’t need to come with the house.  I don’t remember that being included in the sale.
   
• Last, but not least, when you move out of the next house, you may want to make sure you take all of your growth lights along with your pots of mysterious plants out of the cabinets.  Leaving them behind really kind of causes people to be suspicious of the activities that took place in the home.  Plus, that is just a tad bit illegal and could really cause you a bit of trouble.  Just a thought…

Whew!  I think that takes care of most of my thoughts and feelings.  Everything put aside, the house is starting to come around!  We did finally get the carpet laid upstairs, so we are able to be living in the house right now.  The basement will be another few weeks probably, so we still have stuff crammed in the garage and the store room, but that’s all right.  When it all comes together, it will feel wonderful!  Aside from two bathrooms and the store room, we have painted every single room and ceiling in the house.  I must say that I will be okay if I don’t seem another paint can for a while.  Once we are all done, I will have to post pictures!  We love the house, though, and it definitely has the extra space we were looking for!

Well, I need to get some cleaning done and get the Christmas tree put up.  I can’t let Hannah celebrate her 2nd Christmas without digging out the Christmas tree.  We are supposed to get nasty weather here the next few days, so I best be prepared to be here at the house for Christmas and possibly not being able to go see the grandparents.  We’ll see what happens! 

I hope and pray that you all have a very blessed Christmas season.  May this time of year find you with friends and family that is dear to you and surrounded by love. 

God bless!