Buy Me! (alternate title: "We're Moving!")

I guess the important facts of the matter should be listed first (or at least that's what they teach you in journalism school): We're moving. And not just a little.

We're headed to Memphis, Tennessee -- Ben has accepted a position there with Sherwin-Williams as an Environmental, Health, and Safety Manager. We're so, so pleased with this situation -- we really like the area, and he really wanted this job. Fortunately, they wanted him, too.

But my excitement over our impending move back to the mid-south is tempered by one thing...my FEAR about selling our house. Our first home, the place we brought Adelaide home to, the house with the first walls I ever painted, the first remodel we ever did...but okay, the truth is this isn't about sentimentality. It's about money. We want to buy a bigger house in Memphis, and the home prices there are buyer-friendly. But the more we can put down, the better. And there's a time frame here. They want us there asap, basically. And we want to skedaddle, ourselves, but there's this small matter of the 200K+ home we've got to sell.

I love our house...it has so many great features. But now I just see all the things that need to be done, the little chores we put off as we raised the children and lived life, that are coming due rather abruptly. We're upping the ante in the kitchen, spending a couple thousand dollars in there to make the home really sparkle. The rest of it...it's little stuff, like paint, and paint, and a little bit of paint. No, really. We're doing a lot of painting, praying Stanley Steemer can work their carpet-lovin' magic on our floors, and figuring out what to do about the landscaping.

Our realtor here is 1 in a million. She's a personal friend, and she just spent the entire day over here with us helping us clean, declutter, and stage. She's having a home inspector come tomorrow morning to give us a pre-sale inspection...and I'm praying he doesn't find anything too dramatically wrong. (Dear God, please let our AC unit be up to snuff...)

And that's why I'm awake, really. I'm stressing. BIG TIME. I just want this all to be over. I thought buying a home was stressful, but needing to sell -- quickly -- and for a profit? Now THAT's scary.

Bottom line: We're moving to Memphis, and we want to go.

By the way...do you think I'll need to change my blog name when we move?