The Pack & Did that meeting really happen that way?!? Really???

So the magic question is:

How many Chiqu*ta Banana boxes does it take to pack up a family of 6?

This picture is very deceiving, because you don't see the additional rows of boxes that are stacked behind these ones. I've been addicted to Chiqu*ta Banana boxes. They are heavy duty and they have handles and my kids can carry them ;0)

Got junk?
My friend, Lisa, made the comment to me that you just don't know how much junk you have till you put it in a box. & boy was she was right!

Yesterday was the scheduled day for the buyer to fly in from NY to look at what he was purchasing. He had never seen our home. His wife did the house shopping and apparently he was just there to witness that it was in fact a house and to write the check.

This was a day I was dreading. I had heard things through the Realtors and was expecting an asshole to show up at my house. I was really not in the mood because we had wanted a later closing and rumor had it, he wanted it ASAP so we could pay him rent with a deposit and all that other bullshit that you pay out when you 'rent'. So with that being said, I was going to try & negotiate some extras for us to stay through the end of school, rent free.

When he came in with his realtor and the inspector, it was obvious we were both uncomfortable. After a few uncomfortable minutes, I just shook his hand and asked him if he'd like a tour of his new purchase. We went from room to room and he repeatedly told me how impressed he was. He admitted how shocked he was, how different it looked in person and how he loved every bit of it, including all of my furniture and what was left of the decor. I have already packed up most of the wall art, frames, mirrors, table decor, plant shelf decor and everything that is considered non essential. By the end of the 3 hour visit, he was inspecting my dishes, silverware, pots & pans and the photos that were previously taken while it was completely decorated. He wants it all, as is. He wants all of the furnishings from the furniture to the bed sheets. I swear to God he might have bought the panties out of my drawer if I'd opened it up.
So today he called with the website I had posted all the photos on for him and his wife to review. He & his wife are going to spend the weekend reviewing and crunching their numbers and I have spent the last 4 hours making a list of every item up for turnkey. I've stressed to him repeatedly that this is not R00ms to G0 junk, that a lot of these furnishings are expensive, so don't insult me with a low ball number. I won't lose money over it. He will pay for the ease of a vacation home that is all ready to go. He has assured me that he knows exactly what he's paying for....so we shall see when he comes back with his number. I'm anxious to see the price tag someone else attaches to my personal slice of parad*se.

The thought of unpacking all that shit that you see in those boxes and putting it back in it's proper place is mind boggling to me. I'm exhausted as it is. I'm single parenting it because J has been moved into another position and they are training him to head up another division. He thought he would be coming home on weekends, but this weekend he has decided to stay in GA because of the quick turn around to be back on Monday morning =0( I'm so tired.
I've got 4 busy kids, all with scads of appointments, because I'm cramming everything in that needs done before we leave and the golf, school stuff, doing one of J's jobs here because the other employee doesn't start till June and now I get to worry with the payroll dudes coming, the new employee coming to my house every day and all the other bullshit that a move entails. I'm so glad the cleaning is over though. I cleaned out the wazoo for the buyer yesterday and now I'm done. They won't be back till after closing.

SO HERE'S THE FUN KICKER!!!
The guy not only offered me to stay for as long as I needed to in June, but that we can come back any time we wanted and stay in the house to visit and do island time =0)
He hopes a friendship can grow out of it. He even said I could just leave the photo frames up with my kids pictures and they'll flip 'em to their kids when they are here, LOL! He met my kids one by one and made sure he repeated their names to me and asked again which one was who. He sympathized with them & that this had been their home for the better part of their lives. He understood our deep roots in the community and that we'd always want & or need to come back home for something.
This is a 2nd house for them and one they will rarely use because they have two kids in high school up north. Can you imagine me hopping down here for a weekend and walking into my house with all of my furnishings exactly the way I left it? The house I decorated and loved may not be gone to me forever after all. We'll see if it all pans out, but before the end of the trip, we were having cocktails and I was introducing him to some people and he didn't want to leave. Originally he had stated that he would probably only use the house twice a year and after he called me today he stated that he just didn't want to leave. That he felt the labor of love that we had put into this house and he knew why we loved it so much, that it was so nice with the salty breeze flowing through all the doors & windows and the kids all outside playing. He said it felt like home....*sigh*....
don't I know it.