$14,565

That's the price tag we have told the boys that they owe us for the cost of their new room. Instead of paying them allowance, we will just tally it up as they do their jobs around the home, and allow them to stay in that cool new room. Now, its sortof a joke, but how can we make that a reality?

For those that don't know yet, we have an offer accepted on a "to be built" home, with plans to move into it upon completion in about 6 months. We've talked off and on that past few years about moving. Mostly at a time when I just wanted a change or to start over, and I was being emotional. This time, it just seemed to be the right time. Initially in June because I realized our yard is too small for our growing boys. We wanted space for them. When we moved in, Tyler was 2 and Matthew was 4 months. Our yard seemed plenty big. I perused the area, and really there aren't a whole lot of big yards. And in the off chance that a house was for sale with a big yard, what are the chances we would LOVE the house? Low, I decided. We love the area and travel to work time, so we decided that a quarter of an acre was big enough. Michael suggested we look at new construction so it'll be "a long time before anything breaks down." Our current home is a mere 13 years old, but he's finding its the time when things in the house start to die.

So I started looked at builders, at neighborhoods, asking around, gathering information. On paper, we found a floorplan we loved, The Alcott. We realized there is a model home with that floorplan in Cedar Park. The second we stepped through the front door, Michael and I both got the feeling that...this is home (we didn't realize that until later when we discussed it). We walked through it and fell in love. We didn't fall in love with the crazy model home decor, but the layout, the space, the arrangement of the rooms, the open family room/kitchen similar to our current home, and the pantry in the kitchen.

To make a long story short, I began preparations to put our house on the market to sell, and also to put in an offer to the builders. We interviewed realtors, talked to friends who had done this, gathered an arsenal of information. I did my homework. I decided that Aug. 1 we would put our house on the market. Then it was Aug. 7. I got carpet cleaners, window washers, power washers, our realtor sent a handyman, my friends helped me paint, blinds cleaned, baseboards cleaned, closets decluttered. It all had to be done, and it was all ready on Aug. 7th. BUT our offer had been in a week and hadn't been accepted. Because of a recent price change in the middle of our process, I hoped the builders would honor their original price for us, and they declined. After 3 weeks, we figured we'd wait a year and see. Then, they called to tell us that our offer was accepted. We couldn't believe it. We were excited, but we had already talked ourselves down from it. It took overnight to really sink in.

Our current home became officially on the market Aug. 27th. It is pristine, and I am pleased to say I've been able to keep up on it quite well. I am impressed with myself:) So now to sell. Fortunately we have time on our hands. With the summer over, the housing rush is over, but we did have some traffic over the weekend. Now we wait. It's going to be a tough few months whether we sell quickly and move into temporary housing and then again to our new home, or we emotionally wait for someone to buy our home for the price we need. Offer a little prayer that I survive this in an emotionally sound manner.