I had so much hoped that today would be the day when I could write "we sold the house". Alas, we didn't.

Worse, I have to give you the same old story: people looked at it liked it, narrowed it down between that and another house, and came back to look at it again....only to chose the other house. "It was a tough choce". This is the third time we've heard that.

I feel like I'm at my wit's end. The Hub took a whole week off to clean up and "fine tune" the house. He worked at Depot in the evening, but during the day he scrubbed floors, touched up chipped paint, aggressively cleaned door lintels, stopped drips, removed evidence of previous, no longer occurring leaks. He's thinking of painting the bathroom next, but I hate to see him wear himself out on it....

I guess it just goes to show how far my taste in housing is from the "mainstream". I loved that house and I feel like it was the nicest place I ever lived. Our realtors assure us that "everyone is going through this" (well, the three other people who sold their house instead of us aren't, but that's beside the point) "the market is still a little soft right now. It's not like you have a white elephant on your hands."

If we had an elephant, we wouldn't have to hire a moving company to move the table saw and other tools. Also, compost would not be a problem, though I expect zoning would be an issue. But, I digress.

And, there's still hope, as evidenced by this conversation - or what passes for it at our house - this morning.

The Hub: "That doctor who stopped by the house is going to check out the zoning with the county. 'Cause I didn't know what to tell him."

Me: "The podiatrist who showed up when you were over there working on the house? I don't know why he didn't just call the realtors."

Hub: "Doctor Bunion"

Parakeets "Cheep, cheep, cheep!"

Me: (filling in two spaces on the crossword puzzle and frowing at it) "I hate clues that are about the oboe"

Hub: "I told him he could keep the stove and he just waved his hands at the whole kitchen and said, 'All of this would have to come out anyway' "

Winston: "Rrroouuuwww. ruff, ruff, ruff!"

Me: "I think the dog has to go out."

Hub: " No, he just wants breakfast. What kind of clue is about an oboe?"

Me: (sighing) "Well, as long as his money is green...."

Hub: "But that's so discouraging! I want some nice young couple to buy the house and have excellent craftsmanship. I didn't do all that work on that house so some guy could treat people's corns where we used to eat breakfast."

Me: "Some of us are trying to eat breakfast now."

Winston: "Ruff!"

Me (to Winston) "Right. Breakfast."

Hub: "Though I guess the kitchen would wind up as the reception area since he was talking about taking out the back yard and putting a parking lot out there."

Me:( alarmed) "He wasn't talking about taking down the carport was he?"

Hub: "Well, I guess he would. Where's Winston's food dish?"

Me: "Where's Birda going to build her nest? In the sink."

Hub: "What, you mean like a drain pipe or something?"

Me: "What?"

Hub: "Birda"

Parakeet (indisctinctly) "Gotta need fer seed"

Hub: "Did he just say 'got a need for seed'?"

Me: "I think so. It's in the cupboard."

Hub: "Winston's food dish?"

Me: "No, the bird seed. That reminds me, the drain in the shower is clogged."

Hub (distractedly, looking for the food dish) "Oh, all right. I'll fix it."

Me: ( alarmed) "What about the frogs?!"

Hub: "They'll be okay. They'll just move. You know, you just said if his money was green it was okay for him to undo all the work I did on that kitchen, but you're worried about three frogs."

Me: "Frogs are an important part of the ecosystem."

Hub; "Yeah, well, so are handymen!"

Me: "I'd like to know how many mosquitos you've eaten in your life"

( The Hub opens his mouth to reply then closes it again looking a little as if he'd just now eaten a mosquito. He shakes his head and continues looking for the food dish) "What's wrong with the drain?"

Me: "It's clogged." The newspaper slides to the floor. Winston comes over from his water dish to see if it's something to eat. He sniffs it intently. "Oh, for goodness sake Goober! Now you've drooled all over the crossword puzzle. How am I supposed to finish it?"

Hub: "Well, I suppose that renders the oboe irrelevant this morning."

The whole thing is discouraging. "They paved paradise and put up a podiatrist". I can't stand it.