Random Funnies and talking Christmas Preparedness with Coffee – RTT Rebel

The chaos continues! But you know what’s not chaotic? The house is being kept nice and clean! Usually the kids and hubby end up leaving stuff laying around that I either pretend isn’t there until they either take care of it, or I get tired of seeing it there and I take care of it. They’re all being really good about picking up after themselves, since we never know when we’ll get a call asking for a showing. The house has been on the market for just over a week, and we’ve had five showings so far.

Now if one of those past or future showings would convert into an offer so we can breathe easier and not feel like the ugly stepsister hanging out by the wall hoping a prince comes and asks her to dance. Of course we still have to find a house we want to buy next, and the purchase of said house will be contingent on this house selling, so not having an offer yet is OK, because we haven’t found a house we want to make an offer on yet.

But there are some really good possibilities that have all the room we desire within our price range. We’re trying to keep conservative so we won’t end up ‘house poor’ and overextending ourselves in spite of the generous pre-approval we were able to get. I’m looking forward to finding the perfect house that will enable the hubby to have a music room, and me finally having a coveted craft room and winemaking space. I can’t wait!

Moving on… This is an ingenious idea! 

Now I wish I had a husky I could do this with. I totally would. One of these days I’ll have to dig out the awesome Red Riding Hood cape I made way back in my late teens/early 20’s that’s withstood the test of time. Going purely from an old Red Riding Hood book (you know, the cartoonish drawings), I made a pattern out of brown paper bags, bought red velvet and black satin material, then made a reversible cape with hidden seams. Once I have a craft room again, I can go back to getting creative like that! 

OK, this next funny some people may find offensive – I’m a cat (and dog) person, and I laughed when I saw it, so I had to share:

Speaking of cats… One of my old high school friends lives in Wisconsin – she posted on Facebook the other day that she finally captured a picture of the feral cat she’d been leaving cat food on the back porch for:

Yep, your eyes are not deceiving you! She’s been feeding a skunk. Hopefully that skunk will be so happy with a full belly it won’t decide to leave any parting gifts. Just sayin’. 

It’s time once again for Leslie’s (aka Rory Bore) Tuesday Coffee Chat!

The question or prompt for this week is:

“It’s now only a month until Christmas!! Panic now. If you are the calm and collected type, do please share some of your secrets to surviving holiday stress.“

Once upon a time, I used to make sure I had all my gifts purchased by Thanksgiving. That way I could kick back and relax for my favorite holidays, leisurely wrapping presents while watching Christmas movies and watching the kids delight as they see the pile growing under the tree that will have been decorated over Thanksgiving weekend, transforming the fall decor to Christmas decor inside and out.

Over the years, and especially after the move, time always seems to get away from me. That, and one of the reasons we’re in the market to buy a new house while simultaneously selling our current house, is room for stashing stuff. Our old house in Pennsylvania had plenty of places to stash gifts so they wouldn’t be discovered before Christmas morning.

This house? Not a good stash house. (heh!)  And of course with our house currently on the market, I have to keep things minimal – as in, make sure the clutter-prone areas remain clutter-free, and the house continuously spotless on the off-chance we get a last-minute showing for potential buyers.

I was also told to not decorate, so potential buyers can envision their own special touches for the holidays as they look at the house. What do you all think? I think that’s a bunch of crock, and it’s driving me crazy not to have my fall decor out. I might do some subtle decorating, because it is that time of year after all! Might make the house look that much more appealing, don’t you think?

We’re hoping we can sell our house and buy a new house and get all moved in before Christmas, in spite of the fact that this is the ‘slow time’ for houses. I’ll keep you posted! Meanwhile, I am so not ready for Christmas this year – this might be the first year ever  that I’ll end up doing last minute shopping. Kill me now.

That’s a wrap for this week – you know the drill, link up and join in the fun, everyone is welcome, random or not. And that means even if you don’t have a specific Random Tuesday Thoughts Rebel post posted, you can still link up, I’m not picky. You don’t even have to add the badge, just link up so I can come harass you on your blog. I promise to play nice.

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Link up your Random (or not) here:

Keeping the random alive (barely) – feel free to snag a badge and play along – one for my wino friends:

<div align="center"><a href="http://stacyuncorked.com" title="Stacy Uncorked" target="_blank"><img src="http://stacysrandomthoughts.com/Files/randomtuesday.jpg" alt="Stacy Uncorked" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

And one for my non-wino friends:

<div align="center"><a href="http://stacyuncorked.com" title="Stacy Uncorked" target="_blank"><img src="http://stacysrandomthoughts.com/Files/randomtuesday2.jpg" alt="Stacy Uncorked" style="border:none;" /></a></div>