T six days and counting

Until I get my house back, that is.

And then one week of crazy frenzy will ensue as I prepare the house for sale. My beloved Portland house, which I bought just under four years ago.

I'm looking forward to filling the spirit of the house with me again before I sell it. Making coffee in the butler's pantry. Plunking the keys on the piano, filling the air with notes which acoustically dance in the high-ceiling'd architecture. Covering up the marks of renters who didn't love my house as their own, but treated it as a temporary abode.

While the advice of most is to retain the house: "Wait til the market bumps up again"- "Hire a property manager". The reality is that renters become exponentially more difficult with distance of the home owner.

So I am holding my breathe a little as I wait for the walk-through on the 31st of August. Hoping my little place will return to me as sweetly as I left her.