Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The First Step
We've been scrambling for one week to prepare for the move to Nebraska. Held the first of many yard sales last week and did well, and I'm nearly finished offloading my project at work to someone else so I can focus more energy on selling our house and getting everyone ready for the move.
I read two books over the weekend on how to sell your own home, so I guess I'm now as qualified as a realtor. At least I'd like to think that. We want to sell on our own to avoid the 6% fee any realtor will charge us. Who would ever voluntarily hand over 6% of the equity in their house to someone? I will fight it for as long as I can, and maybe I can sell the house in the process. If not, we'll end up going with a realtor, but not by choice.
Nervous? Hell yes. Confident? Yes.
Last night I was going through some photos of my deployment I took right before I came back home and I noticed something different. I've lost about 15+ pounds since coming home from a combination of running, eating less, and stress. More because of the working out and portion control, but those were things that were difficult to do while deployed. They feed you too well overseas, and I never could get myself to jog around the Green Zone, so it's easy to fall into the trap. Most of us just lifted weights and drank the protein shake/weight gain 3000 powder.
Talk about setting yourself up for disaster.
Sitting in middle of the ballroom of Believer's Palace, which sat on top of Saddam's infamous bunker. Damn that excellent DFAC food! Damn you all to hell with your good food, excellent ice cream bar (staffed by a cool guy named Mohammad), and late night buffets!
Some chick I met last weekend (My wife Tonya) and I on Saturday headed to a Rascal Flatt's concert. What a difference 15 pounds makes. I'm going to keep up the routine and see how much more I can lose over the next month or so.
And yes, we've had time for a little fun in between the chaos of moving. Rascal Flatt's closed their national tour here in town. Two of the guys are from Columbus, so their families and friends filled the floor of the arena. Fun concert. These guys really know how to have fun and make the cost of the tickets worth it.
So what's on tap for this week? Renting a storage unit today, and hopefully filling it with stuff we need to get out of the house to make it sell better. We're having another garage sell/cook out this weekend with our neighbors. In between today and Saturday I need to list the house, something I've never done before but it needs to be done now. I just keep reminding myself of the 6% commission I'm avoiding.
On a side note, Craigslist works. If you ever need to sell something, try Graigslist.com first. We had hits within hours on some items and they sold that day. My neighbor also does very well using it.
Found out I'll be working for STRATCOM out at Offut. Not sure what I'll be doing, but that's where I'm headed. I still suspect it's an office weenie job (slave/gopher/exec), but there's nothing I can do to stop that now. My lesson was learned over the last few months. Shut up and color.
Still going through these bunker photos. I'll have to post them all soon. Very cool way to spend your last day in Baghdad.
Need a hole in a door, just call the Army. They're good at breaking things fast.
While touring Saddam's bunker, one must partake in the tradition of posing on his private crapper.
Or posing in his private jacuzzi/players room up in the palace.
My Dad, an old crusty US Marine, always had a picture of himself from Vietnam sitting against some sand bags with a weapon, showing the peace sign. I thought it appropriate to do one of my own.
Time to take on the day and get this house sold.
Have a good one.
posted by El Capitan at 7:54 AM
6 Comments:
said...
Good pics! Who knew Saddam's legs were shorter than mine?
Wish you luck on the next yard sale, and much good luck on selling your house.
Southern (in)Sanity said...
Fantastic pictures. I have always been amazed at the "luxury" that Saddam provided himself while his "people" suffered and struggled.
Thankfully, the fine men and women of our military led the way in taking him down.
Best of luck with the house sale. I can't imagine just giving away six percent either.
said...
Do not envy you the whole sorting, packing, selling, moving experience....but once that's over...the new house part can be fun. Good Luck!
11:19 PM Lindsay said...
Love the pics, dude.
Good luck with the move. And yes, Craigslist is amazing...hopping on there right now to look for an apartment :)
Guard Wife said...
Great photos & update! Glad to see you're back in action.
ArmyWifeToddlerMom is headed to Nebraska shortly herself. Lucky state!
Keep us posted & good luck with the real estate!
DAM said...
hey good luck with your move! i just started looking for air force blogs and stumbled onto yours... hopefully i can find more (i did check our all the linds on the side of your blog lol)
do you have an rss link?