If you lived here, you'd be home now

We've gotten some unpleasant news about our apartment recently.  Part of it we need to have confirmed: after we sent in our letter of intention to leave, our landlord contacted Dennis with a moving timeline.  From what we understand right now, we're expected to vacate the apartment two weeks before we move out, for inspection and any incurred repairs.  Two weeks that we're still paying rent for...that doesn't sound like that could possibly be right.  And it would be very inconvenient: two weeks before we move, the kids are still in school. So Dennis is going to start talking to the moving coordinator at Google, to see what he can see.

We were also told that the landlord was going to start sending prospective renters by to tour the apartment. Dennis got two calls, almost immediately, for men who will be coming by tomorrow.  My first thought when I heard this was "Gah! I have to clean!" Dennis laughed at me, and reminded me that this isn't our apartment to sell.  I didn't have to do anything.

Except I'm not the kind of person who can show strangers around her apartment without giving things a bit of a scrub.  Especially after it occurred to me that I actually do have a vested interest in having this apartment show well: the faster it goes, the fewer intrusions I'll have in the next few weeks, showing the place.

So today was cleaning day, and I put the kids to task in their own rooms.  I was amused by their standards of cleanliness.  Alex tidied by taking the special things scattered all over his room and neatly piling them on and under his bedside table.  The remainders, with some misgivings, had to go under the bed.

Ella's standards have improved over the years: books were lined up neatly according to size, floor was swept, and all stray piles of this and that were eradicated.  But my favorite touch was how she carefully arranged her origami frogs across her dresser top.

Since the last time you saw it, Schloss Geels has gotten a face lift: it's become a sparkly candy castle, in anticipation
of Joey's Candyland birthday party.

Airing my dirty laundry? No. Laundering money. We
discovered that the American money I'd tucked away
in our musty storage room had gotten moldy, so we
threw it in the wash.

And while all this was going on, I wiped and scrubbed and went to other unnecessary lengths. But I have to say, our apartment looks fantastic. I'd totally rent it.

It wasn't all work and no play today: the kids spent a piece of the afternoon painting the little cow banks that we bought the other day. And, just like their rooms, the cows are a just a wonderful reflection of my kids, and where they are in their lives right now.

Ella wanted an art cow: she
drew edelweiss on hers.

And Alex wanted his cow to look
very real.  It has pink cheeks and a
big fat red collar.

I remembered my friend April's advice
about limiting the palate, for Joey:
He was meticulous about covering
every speck of white.  He's so proud:
he keeps going to the cows, patting
his, saying "I like mine best."

By 4:00...I worked the kids hard today.