showings, staging, and stuff

Well, we are officially "on the market" as of Tuesday afternoon and have had two showings so far. I feel like my whole being is preoccupied with the possibility that we'll get a phone call requesting a showing in a few hours and the knowledge that potential buyers want to see houses that look like someone could possibly live there but show no real evidence of actually being lived in. My heart starts beating faster & I start to sweat just thinking about it.

What about the dishes in the sink?

What about the laundry hanging all over the laundry room?

What about the floor that is covered with whatever the latest meal was?

What about the toys that are strewn all over the house?

What about the little ones clamoring for my undivided attention?

How can I possibly get the house ready?

I have determined that it can only happen if we're in a constant state of half-readiness. Which means my day is spent like this:

• wake up and make sure the house is absolutely spotless before we begin to dirty it with our life
• serve breakfast to the kiddos
• clean up the boxes of cereal that Shorty has pulled off the pantry shelves and spilled all over the kitchen floor
• break up the fight that has erupted between the twins in the family room
• race up the stairs to find Shorty running all over the house with toilet paper he has dunked in toilet water; clean up this mess
• head back downstairs to help Thing 1 or Thing 2 finish up whatever potty business he needed to take care of of; clean up the mess
• go back upstairs to try to minimize the damage Shorty is doing as he dumps the box of cars out in the middle of the twins' bedroom floor, takes them to the top of the steps, and throws them down
• run back downstairs to break up yet another fight and clean up the toys the twins have thrown at each other
• return to the twins' room to find that Thing 2 has decided to unmake the beds and roll all over the floor while shouting "oh, no! oh, no! oh, no!"; clean up this mess
• back downstairs to try to clear the table of breakfast and sweep an entire bowl of cereal off the floor
• race up the steps to find out who is screaming and why
• return to cleaning the kitchen just in time to make lunch for everyone and let the whole cycle start again

Did you notice there is no mention of personal hygiene or getting dressed? Yeah. We might smell bad right now.

But the house looks great.