gratitude [grat-i-tood, -tyood]

My family has been awesome always, but especially lately with all this house stuff. Last weekend my older sister and her family and my parents came to help move me in and clean some things up, which was great! My sister even wrote about it on her blog here. I'm grateful that they spent their 4th of July to help me and to share in such a big event! Thanks Mom, Dad, Tim, Kim, Ben, and Tessa. My little brown-eyed girl, Abby, even spent the night and helped me unpack and organize things. That 10-year-old girl amazes me with her selflessness ... she just kept saying, "Whatever you want me to do to help you get settled, Heidi." Thanks, Abby.

This weekend, my brother came from St. Paul, MN to help me too. I rented a Rug Doctor so we could shampoo all the carpeting in the house because there was definitely a lingering pet odor in the house and some spots in the living room. Boy did we work hard! Technically, he did the bulk of the shampooing while I did the pre-shampoo vacuuming, moved a few things around, and shampooed the stairs. I cannot believe how dirty the carpet was. We're talking disgusting, black water, kind of dirty!! Even after going over the carpet a couple of times, the water was still coming out very dirty. Blech. And I'm not kidding when I say the carpeting on the steps was nearly as bad as the entire living room! The smell has gotten better, but is probably not completely gone. It's most likely in the carpet pad, which will be nearly impossible to get out, I'm guessing. The previous owners did a great job of masking the smell when we were here for the showings and inspection... or they let it get worse after the offer was accepted. That would be my advice to a home buyer: if the carpet is staying and isn't new, write a professional carpet cleaning into your offer.

Anyway, my brother and I also ran all over the city looking for some new house numbers (you just can't see mine very well), a new mailbox, and other odds and ends. We didn't find everything, but that's OK. It was fun having him around, as always. I think that we're pretty entertaining for salespeople and whatnot, once we get going. So thanks for all your help this weekend, Brother!!