Haulin’ a Whole New Life

My mother-in-law listed her home Wednesday, July 13th. It’s located in middle California, east up a canyon from Bakersfield. She had one potential buyer come through this morning who is very interested, looking through the house twice this morning. It’s 11:30 a.m. PDT. Her house now has a few people looking, and she may benefit from a bidding war. Another buyer is scheduled to visit at 1:00 pm. The move from the Kern River valley to the home where my husband and I live in eastern Washinton State may come sooner, much sooner, rather than later.

The house is not yet ready for her to move in, with bathroom remodels under way and bedrooms still not cleared out. Our oldest son begins his new job on Monday and will soon be making plans to move out, but not until he gets a few paychecks. When I remind him he needs to start working with his dad to move his thingsfrom the basement, across the hall from our bedroom, I’m met with radio silence.

My husband responded to his mom’s news about several people looking at the house and making positive comments by telling her that she’ll probably be living in a bit of a mess for a while. She said it would still be a while; she’s hoping for maybe a 45-day escrow. That is still soon in my book.

When my husband sent her a picture of the vanity we’d purchased for the downstairs bathroom (Not her bathroom, I’ve had to remind.), she texted back, “It’s in two pieces?” After the explanation that these two pieces would make one, she texted, “With no handles?” to which my husband assured her there would indeed be drawer pulls. Her follow-up comment was, “Make it nice for your mommy!”

Should she complain about any of the accomodations, I will need to let her know we’ve done fine without her oversight. I won’t say it that coldly, but I will express that I’m not interested in her concerns or corrections. Any ideas about how best to deliver this sentiment are greatly appreciated, in the comments. Bitte schon.

Updates about the German mother-in-law revolution (I certainly wouldn’t use the term ‘invasion.’) will follow as events unfold. Danke.

p.s. For anyone wondering, my husband reads my posts. His reaction to this one? “Did you have to look up how to spell bitte schon?” and we laughed about my 20 minutes spent trying to type in umlauts, which I never did figure out.